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Chiat , Lona... 


THE 


HANDMAIDEN OF THE LORD, 


WAYSIDE SKETGHES, 


teens BNC 


MRS. SARAH A. COOKE. 


** And on My servants and on My handmaidens | will pour out 
in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” Acts 11: 18. 





CHICAGO 
S. B. SHAW, PUBLISHER, 
CENTRAL UNION BLOCK 
1900 














LIST OF CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I.—Birthplace. Childhood and Youth. Moeous of 
the Judgment Day. Scenery around Olney. Rey. John 
Newton. Elder Brother Goes to Australia. Sister Eliza 
~Converted. My Conversion......... Boris esate ccs 

CHAPTER II.—Geo. Wethers. Brother James. “Mrs. Bass. 
William Mead. Jane Britain. Marriage. “Beside All 


Waters Sow.” Susanna Kitchener............-% hier 
CHAPTER III.—Father’s Death. Eliza’s Death. Promise 
of Guidance. WeCome to America............ese0- 


CHAPTER IV.—Joining the Baptist Church. Noonday Meet- 
ings. Mr. Moody. Mrs. Hawxhurst. John Parker.... 
CHAPTER V.—Meetings in Lincoln Park. Mission Band. 
Death of Bros. Dickinson and Bird. Seeking Entire 
Sanctification. ‘‘Purified and Made White, and Tried.” 
The Great Fire. Holiness Meeting. Brother James.... 
CHAPTER Y¥I.—Journal. Invitation to England. Warned 
Not To Go. Work at Hessville, Ind. At Gibson. At 
Ross. Mrs. Hayward. Way of Conducting Services. 
Clarke on Prayer. Self-Denial, Healed by Faith...... 
CHAPTER VII.—St. Charles Camp-Meeting. At Knox, Ind. 
A Daughter Converted. Husband Goes to England. 
Mr. Caughey. Convictions Must Be Obeyed. Christ- 
mas Evans. Dying of Consumption. Mrs. Ruth Harper. 
Wood’s Mills. Union Centre. Hobart, Ind. David 
Andrews. Divine Guidance. Rey. B. T. Roberts..... 
CHAPTER VIII.—The Mission Band. Mr. Hanmer’s State- 
ment. Organization. First Work in Chicago. Meet- 
AI SuUIny LT ALA srs anvinstelctets Sale visvelorealereic eyalecte ote clewsle's engte 
CHAPTER I[X.—Mrs. J. E. Skinner. First Meeting. Back- 
sliders Reclaimed. An Unkind Sister. Wagon Evangel- 
ism. Myriel Pierce. Converts in Heaven. Personal 
Testimony. Ann Cutler’s Consecration.......... Seder 
CHAPTER X.—A Consumptive. Friendly Warning.  Pray- 
ing for Light. A Pastor’s Unconverted Daughter. The 
Holy Spirit Convicts. Miss Marsh. A Delayed Car. 
Billy Bray’s Victorious Faith, Novel-Reading. Two 
Ladies. Joy in the Holy Spirit. Temptation in Dress, 
“Such Little Things?’ The a eee Clime.” Dead, 
pheyeyctespeaksm@ Bramwell. i). 2i(5.c sie, 6 vases sto cinlelaieiels sie 
CHAPTER XI.—Love and Light. Fasting. “Mrs. Eunice 
Cobb. Her Experience. Devils Cast Out. Hatred of 
the Wicked. President Edwards. Among Wolves. 
Prayer Before Speaking. All Needs Covered. Wesley 
on the Bible. Seeking To Know the Truth, Infidelity. 
Hatred of the Truth. Luther, Whitfield. Booth..... 
CHAPTER XII.—‘“The Lamps of Fire.” Fletcher. Baxter. 
Vain Adornment. Mrs. Bella Cook. Gift of Healing. 
Seeking Holiness. John Smith. Letters to a Minister. 
God’s Word. Eli, a Warming to «Parents. Sunday- 
Schools. Young Spurgeon. William Taylor..... Deeks 


PAGES. 


43-53 


53-61 


92-111 


III: 129 


130-148 


4 LIST OF CONTENTS. 


CIIAPTER XIII.—Billy Bray. The Love of God. Adam 
Clarke. The Church’s Power. Death-Bed Warning. 
Separation from the World. Experience Lost and Re- 
gained.) Miss Borde Since os opis on sees 2 en ee 

CHAPTER XIV.—At the Rock Island Depot. Charles G. 
Finney. Knowledge of Salvation. Shall Women Preach? 
Winning Souls. Marriage, Alienation and Estrangement. 
Barth=bealing soo aes Lees aw sacs hat Sesion eee 

CHAPTER XV-—God’s Glory Appears to Abraham. Preach- 
ing Holiness. Rev. B. T. Roberts’ Triumphant Death. 
Letter to Mrs. Roberts. John the Baptist Preaching. 
Chicago Avenue Church. My Husband’s Death. God’s 
All-Sufficient Grace. All Things Testify of God. Na- 
poleon. Queen Victoria. Volney’s “‘Ruins of Empires.” 
Oliver Cromwell’s Devotion to God......... Gossbtece. 

CHAPTER XVI.—Mrs. Cobb on Self-Denial. ‘Warn Them 
From Me.” Terrible Conviction. Letter to Rev. L. B. 
Kent. Carvossoon Faith. Feed the Sheep. Work in 
Jo Daviess County. Camp-Meeting Gleanings. Way- 
side Sketches : . 22 )sst cies, stale ctelan x Sst siete se ae ae 

CHAPTER XVII.—Temperance. Fasting. Keeping the 
Body Under. Death of Anarchists. Letter to Brother 
James. Meetings at St. David’s. My Mother’s Death.. 

CHAPTER XVIII.—Mr. Fletcher’s Experience. Vermont 
Camp-Meeting. Finney on Revival Preaching. The New 
Preacher of Gadara. Letter from Brother Buss. Work 
of God at Harvey, Ill. Letters to Brother James. Con- 
version of Bishop Hamline. Brother Tinckham. Jour- 
nal. Gods Many..... as Sie sis sala didtw eat cet oR eo 

CHAPTER XIX.—Spurgeon on Preaching. Divinity of Christ. 
Extracts from My Journal. Formal Prayer, Rev. John 
Parker. Well-Fed. Journal. Work at Benton Harbor, 
Mich. Wesley on Class-Meetings. House to House Visit- 
ings) Phe: Pacific: Mission's: 22... acess: ¢ seen cee 

CHAPTER XX.—Open-Air Preaching. St. Patrick. Letter 
to the Mayor of Chicago. From Bramwell. ‘‘In Prison 
and Ye Came Unto Me.” Finney on Fashion and Attire, 
A Dream. The Royal Wife and Mother. Conversion of 
George Cooke < Fo ae set). - te ersiniew em feniate see oot ieee 

CHAPTER XXI.—Children Rightly Trained. God’s Preach- 
ers. Hesitating and Failing. From Adam Clarke. Tes- 
timonies in Favor of the Bible. Our Covenant-Keeping 
God. Mr. Moody in the Circus Pavilion. The World’s 

- Fair. Fashion and Extravagance. A Jewess in Prison. 

CHAPTER XXII.—Extracts from Mrs. Fletcher. My Jour- 
nal. Miss Frances E. Willard. Rev. William Kendall. 
Camp-Meetings in Kentucky. Finley’s Conversion...... 

CHAPTER XXIII.—At Sheridan, Ind. Letterto the ‘*Chris- 
tian Witness.” Be Not Deceived. Backsliders. John 
Randolph—For Boys, The Unseen Line. The Hour 
After the Judgment. Looking to See the Coming of the 
Lord: Work in:Prison? cio.0 a. ne aes, oe nee teat 

CHAPTER XX1V.—Street Preaching. Experience of Major 
Sydney Clibborn. Letters to Mrs. Mary Tubbs. Miss Col- 
born. Mrs. Anne Grant. Mr. James Bass,.........+- 


7 1S Seer ee, 
7 = asc ie, See ee 

laa ae: 
PAGES 


185-197 


198-212 ° 


212-229 


229-253 


254-276 


276-291 


291-299 


299-329 


329-343 


343-382 





ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Sarah A. Cooke, 
Mrs. Caroline Jones, 
Rey. Thomas Fluck, 
Dwight lL. Moody, 
Rey. C. H. Spurgeon, 
Mr. Charles Cooke, 
Rey. C. W. Hanmer, 
Mrs. Harriet Coon, 
Rev. George Whitfield, 
Vivian A. Dake, 

L, B. Kent, 

Francis K. Willard, 
S. B. Shaw, 

Gen. Wm. Booth, 
Rey. John Wesley 
Eunice Cobb, 
William Jones, . 
Rev. C. G. Finney . 
J. B. Finley 

Sarah A. Cooke 

Rey. James Caughey : 
Dr. Adam Clarke 
Mrs. J. Skinner, 
Wm. Taylor, 

J. D. Kelsey, 

Rey. D. W. Andrews, 
Rev. W. M. Kelsey, 
Rey. Thomas Fluck, 


Page, 
Frontispiece. 
17 
AT 
33 
33 
49 - 
49 


PREFATORY NOTE. 


OFTEN, when out in the Lord’s work, a brother beloved in the Lord, 
Rey. L. B. Kent, would urge upon me to write some account of my life; 
but I would greatly shrink from it, and would refer to the many lives of 
those saints who had walked and lived near God, and attained to heights 
of experience, O so greatly above and beyond my own—the lives of 
Hester Ann Rogers, Mrs. Fletcher, and many others; but still he would 
urgeit. Onenight, in traveling together, returning from a camp-meeting, 
with Miss Laura Pippit, again the subject came up. As Bro. K. went 
on to his home, and we stopped at the Burlington depot just about mid- 
night, soon my companion was quietly sleeping, but my eyes were held ~ 
waking. That night, a wondrous night of blessing, as memory would 
bring back the past, scene after scene, all through life, came the conyic- 
tion that it was the will of God that I should write a record of His loving- 
kindness and tender mercies. Never, from that hallowed night, have I 
doubted it; but the difficulty has been to find in my work a stopping place. 

Meeting again at Sheridan, Ind., in work for the Lord, the last win- 
ter, with Bro. Kent—and he, it might be, realizing more than I had done 
myself, that advancing years would bring a failing of memory and mental_ 
powers—urged that now was the time; that life’s sun would soon be 
setting, and that what was done must be done quickly—following the 
advice, also, after leaving, with an earnest letter of persuasion. I did not 
sleep much that night after reading it, and felt that the Lord’s voice also 
was urging me through its words: “and I was not disobedient to the 
heavenly vision.” And here I wonld gratefully acknowledge Mr. Kent’s 
kind help in preparing it for the press, and his too commendatory letter of 
introduction. 

And now the work is complete, and is commended to that Savior 
who has inspired every thought, every act of life in which there may have 
been any good, the “ author and finisher of our faith.” May He use it to His 
own glory is my only desire, my one constant prayer concerning it. 





Py 
~~ 


WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
BY REV. L. B. KENT, 


“Or making many books there is no end; and 
much study is a weariness of the flesh,” “saith the wise 
man.’ But no labor is more worthy of appreciation, 
and no laborers of esteem and reward, than the labor 
devoted to the production of good books and the 
toiling authors who make them. And yet not all of 
the best books are products of mind-labor, for some 
of the very best may be said to be born—‘born of the 
Spirit;” even as all true Christian life, activity, service, 
and worship, may be said to be “born of the Spirit’’— 
not indeed miraculously, nor by prophetic movements 
of the Spirit, such as were experienced by men of God 
chosen to speak and write what they themselves un- 
derstood but in part, if indeed in some instances at all; 
but by evolution from conditions of heart and spirit 
produced by the Spirit of grace; the human mind re- 
sponsively acting and working to express the thoughts 
of which it is made capable, and which are prompted 
by the life and love within. ‘So is every one that is 


born of the Spirit,” as to inward promptings and active 


doings, says Christ, as saith the Word of God always. 
And may not the same be said of many of the books 


_ given by the hands of spiritual writers? 


Many who will read this book—the introductory 
chapter of which I am permitted to write—will, I am 
sure, regard it as one born of the Spirit. With this 
conviction in my mind, I am led to think that no anal- 
ysis, or general statement, of the character and con- 
tents of the book need here be given. Hence I refer 





8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 


all readers to the subjects, topics, incidents, letters, 
etc., as given in the chapter-index, and on the pages 
of the volume. ‘ 

OF THE AUTHOR. 


There are many thousands, especially in the Cen- 
tral West, to whom the author needs no personal in- 
troduction; and with many of these no commendation 
of the book is needed to awaken an interest in it; for 
personal acquaintance with the author, and knowledge 
of her wayside ministries of.a quarter of a century, 
will have prepared them for hearty greeting and an 
early reading of the book. To a still greater number 
of devout and spiritual persons who have not known 
this “hand-maiden of the Lord,” and as yet have little 
knowledge of her life and labors, it is a pleasure to in- 
troduce her by pen and type. Having known her and 
been conversant with her labors for twenty years, I 
feel competent to write somewhat fully respecting her 
and her work. 

Of her early home and Christian life in England, 
she gives an interesting account in the first chapters of 
the book, as also of her experiences and work after 
her coming to America and Chicago; and it is not dif- 
ficult to see that God was preparing her from child- 
hood, and during the first years of her Christian ex- 
perience and life, for the special work in which she has 
been so successful and happy for forty-five years. 
He had so prepared and enlightened her that, though 
a member of a church that did not teach entire sancti- 
fication as the present privilege and duty of regenerate 
believers, upon first hearing of this gracious truth here, 
she at once became an earnest seeker, and soon a joy- 
ous witness of the precious experience. Of this Chris- 
tian experience full account is given by herself; and 
none who have known her since that eventful. epoch 
can doubt the thoroughness of the Spirit’s sanctifying 
work in her heart. Her fuller preparation for her life- 
work will be readily traced to the hour of the Spirit’s 
sanctifying work and incoming fullness; a life-work of 


em Bae 
. Dey 
Baba i « 


INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 9 


unselfish devotion to the cause of Christ and the wel- 
fare of souls for whom-He died. Not-in all instances 
of full sanctification does there seem to be so marked 
and manifest illustration of Paul’s statement concern- 
ing sanctified vessels in the house or church of God, 
as in the case of Mrs. Cooke. Why her case and that 
of some others should be, or at least seem to be, ex- 
ceptional I will not venture to say; but evidently in 
her case the statement has full illustration. He says: 
“He that shall purge himself from these shall be a 
vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s 
use, and prepared unto every good work,”—of course 
morally, graciously, and spiritually prepared. There 
may be personal characteristics which the Spirit will 
make especially available in the Lord’s work, possibly 
some of them the very things that in the unspiritual 
are unavailable, and often hindrances to the Lord’s 
use of his servants in the good work He would have 
done. 


With Mrs. Cooke nature has been brought under 
the discipline of holiness and of the Holy Spirit, and 
has also had a gracious training, which has been of the 
greatest value to her and her work with and for the 
Lord. Of this holy discipline and gracious training of 
nature, many seem to know but little; and yet the lack 
of it accounts for much of inefficiency and failure. The 
disciplining of the regular soldier will seem arbitrary 
and severe to the raw recruit; but through it all he 
must pass before he can be a soldier indeed, though 
he may do much and many things from the day of 
enlistment. Mrs. Cooke knows herself. To special 


talents, natural or acquired, she makes no claim. She 


is among the people as one that serves, but not asa 
bond-slave,. subject to their will and whims. She 
declares herself the bond-servant, the ‘thandmaiden of 
the Lord,” ever asking what He would have her do in 
service for His disciples and friends. What He would 
do were He here in person, that would she do in His 
name, by His help, and for His glory. 





10 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 


She is possessed of great courage, and yet is so 
kind and gentle that often her courage is a surprise 
both to saints and to sinners. Of the fear of man she 
knows little; and yet of a sense of superiority to others 
she knows nothing. She would not fear to reprove a 
king, as did John, the great preacher, but in it all there 
would be no assumed authority. Only the faithfulness 
of a mother would be professed, and only the Spirit of 
Christ manifest. In faithfulness of dealing with indi- 
viduals, evangelists, ministers, Christians and sinners, 
I have not known her equal. And in the .day of 
awards this line of faithfulness will be seen to have 
been most fruitful. Who can estimate the fruitfulness 
of the faithfulness of Mrs. Cooke and Mrs. Hawxhurst 
in reminding Mr. Moody of his lack of the Spirit’s 
power in his soul and work; followed as it was by 
seasons of prayer with him, and his earnest seeking 
till the holy baptism came?—the baptism to which he 
ascribes all the power and saving influence of his min- 
istry since that. day of Pentecost. With courage that 
seems more than human, I have seen Mrs. Cooke go 
quietly from seat to seat in a railway car and talk with 
each passenger, not passing one! And she does not 
hesitate to speak with persons in street cars, or any- 
where else, as she has opportunity, in season and out 
of season. 


Plain and simple in her life and attire, she silently, 
and sometimes by earnest words of mouth, reproves 
extravagances in house-furnishing, food and dress, 
usually giving her own experiences respecting carnal 
or even needless indulgences. Her reading is almost 
wholly the Bible, and the best of spiritual books and 
periodicals. For the latter she has furnished articles, 
many and excellent. Realizing that_all of life, and 
strength, and help, is of and from God, she prays in 
spirit “ without ceasing,” and is always “giving thanks.” 
And yet she insists that she must be much and often 
in closet prayer, for herself and for the many for 
whom she must intercede as a priest of God. Always 


“INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. u 


and in all things temperate, she, like the early Meth- 
odists, keeps a weekly fast, besides having frequent 
seasons of fasting when she thinks it needful for the 
securing of greater victories in the Lord’s work. She 
holds no extreme views concerning divine healing, 
though she ascribes her almost perfect health, and her 
strength of body and mind for continuous active work 
at sixty-eight, to the promised quickening of the in- 
dwelling Spirit; and also testifies to personal bodily 
healing, at least once, in answer to the prayers of 
saints. Though a.member by choice of the Free Meth- 
odist church, she is so free from the sectarian spirit 
that at all times, and everywhere, she is ready for 
holy fellowship with all of Christ’s followers, and for 
instant labor for the salvation of sinners. She is of 
the “holy catholic church,” being baptized into one 
body by the one Spirit of Christ. 

In this introduction of Mrs. Cooke to the many 
who will read and doubtless highly prize her ‘‘ Wayside 
Sketches,” I have made mention only of the excellen- 
cies that reveal and illustrate the grace of God in her, 
and in her work; hence all praise must and will be 
given to her Lord and Savior. By grace only did she 
become “the Lord’s handmaiden;” otherwise His Spirit 
had not been poured upon her that she might proph- 
esy. May the ministry of the book, like that of its 
author, be fruitful by divine blessing in the edification 
of saints, and in the awakening and conversion of 
many of the unsaved. 

JACKSONVILLE, ILL. 


fore 


CHAPTER: E. 


I was born in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, 
November loth, 1827. Very pleasant are the memories 
of that home where I first drew the breath of life. No 
home that I have ever seen has seemed to me to come 
up to its standard; no mother to so completely fill the 
sphere and control all the machinery of the household 
with such a firm, wise hand, as did my mother hers. 


“The constant flow of love that knew no change, 
Ne’er roughened by those cataracts and breaks 
Which humor, interposed, too often makes.” 


I was the fourth of a family of seven—four broth- 
ers and three sisters. Very strong was the bond that 
bound us together. The least difference arising be- 
tween us was always referred to our mother, from 
whose judgment we never thought of dissenting. I 
have no remembrance of having to learn to obey my 
parents; that lesson was learned from the earliest dawn 
of reason. My father, Henry Bass, was a man of noble, 
generous disposition, nervous and impulsive, and I 
have often thought that the description of Job’s char- 
acter exactly fitted him—‘‘an upright man, one that 
feared God and eschewed evil;” carrying on for more 
_than forty years the business of draper and clothier. 
His earnest prayer for his children often found utter- 
ance in the words of the Psalmist, ‘“‘that our sons may 
be as plants grown up in their youth, and our daugh- 
ters as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
palace.” 

The Sabbath was to us a day full of interest. 
Three times each Sabbath-day, year in and year out, 


CHILDHOOD. 13 


we gathered at the church. Sunday-school was from 
g to 10:30 o'clock, when the public service began, 
to which we always stayed; then again from 1 to 2 
o'clock; and in the evening from 5 to 6, just before the 
public service, the latter being one of great enjoyment; 
one of the deacons generally reading a Bible story 
from the book, ‘line upon line and precept upon pre- 
cept,” addresses following, interspersed with lively 
singing, exhortation and prayers. Six hours of the 
day, always, except in cases of sickness, were spent in 
the house of God without any weariness. How often 
have I wished the children of America were trained 
this way! How blessed for themselves and our land, 
were they thus taught to revere and hallow the Sab- 
bath-day! 

One lesson, never to be forgotten, comes before 
me. In the days of my childhood, I was playing one 
day with my youngest brother Willie at ball. At the 
top of the first flight of stairs stood a large eight-day 
clock, and in throwing the ball up the stairs it struck 
the glass, breaking it all in pieces. In amoment the 
thought was suggested to say that Willie did it, as he 
was so little that mother could not punish him; and so, 
as she came asking who did it, I said, * Willie did it,” 
no doubt looking guilty, for she at once said: ‘No, 
Willie did not do it; you did it.” Then not a word of 
reproach for the accident; that was a little thing com- 
pared to the lie I had told; but leading me by the hand 
into the sitting-room, and taking the large Testament 
_ from the table, she opened at Acts 5:1—10, and read of 
Ananias and Sapphira being struck dead for telling a 
lie; and there, alone, I had to learn every word of it 
Oh, what a wise mother was mine! 

From earliest childhood I had deep convictions of 
sin, the Holy Ghost often moving upon my heart. I 
remember especially these words of Dr. Watts taking 
such hold on me: 

“The soul, by blackening sin defiled, 
Can never enter heaven 


t4 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Till God and it are reconciled, 
And all its sins forgiven. 

For it must soar to worlds unknown, 
Where happy spirits dwell; 

Or, buried with the wicked, lie 
Deep in the depths of hell. 


There is a dreadful hell, 
And everlasting pains, _ 

Where sinners must with devils dwell 
In darkness, fire and chains.” 


How many ways the Spirit has of moving on the 
heart! Sometimes, in the sweet, gentle drawing of the 
Spirit, whispering, ‘I love them that love Me, and 
those that seek Me early shall find Me,” and by the 
impression that now is the best time to seek the Lord. 
Then in awful threatenings, making the soul quake, as 
did Moses when the holy law was given on Sinai’s’ 
mountain. One such occasion I will never forget. We 
had a large garden, and to each of us our mother had 
given a portion to cultivate and plant as we pleased. 
Mine was a round bed, terminating a long gravel walk. 
There was a low border of a shrub called box all around 
it, and an evergreen tree in the centre. It was a source 
of wondrous pleasure to me. One night I dreamed 
that morning had come, and that with trowel and water- 
_ pot I was busy among my flowers, when suddenly my 
attention was aroused by the horizon back of the sum- 
mer-house lighting up as if the sun was rising; but that” 
could not be, for that was westward. As I looked on 
with wonder, the light kept spreading and increasing 
until it came up in spires of flame all around the hori- 
zon. Then came the awful, agonizing thought, “le day 
of judgment has come. The world, with all its works, ts to 
be burned up, and I am unsaved ; lost, forever lost! Never 
while memory holds her seat will the awful agony of 
that dream be forgotten. Blessed be the name of the 
Lord, it was only a warning, sent in tenderest love, to 
tell me of approaching doom, and to warn me to “‘flee 
from the wrath to come.” ‘When He,” (the Holy 





BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 15 


Spirit) “shall come,” said our Savior, in that last dis- 
course with his disciples, ‘He shall reprove the world 
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.”’ How truly 
is this fulfilled in this and in every way, as He does His 
work among the children of men! 

The scenery about Olney was very beautiful. 
Ascending on the south side, gradually, from the town 
to a village called Weston Underwood, there spread a 
beautiful valley; meadows of richest verdure, with © 
many sheep and cattle feeding; clusters of trees, and 
then the village in the distance, and the church in 
which for many years John Newton preached the 
unsearchable-riches of Christ. There was heard the 
peal of bells whose rich sound would fall on the listen- 
ing ear, while the sky in its brightness was as clear as 
when “the angels shouted for joy, and all the morn- 
ing stars sang together,” and the Lord looked on this 
beauteous earth and pronounced it very good. Often, 
when gazing on this scenery, I would repeat the beau- 
tiful description given by the poet Cowper, who wrote 
most of his poems and passed many years of his life 
in Olney, and whose piety, with that of Mr. Newton’s, 
left an influence which is felt to this day on all that 
neighborhood: 


“ How oft upon yon eminence, our pace 
Has slackened to a pause, and we have borne 
The rustling wind, scarce conscious that it blew, 
While admiration, feeding at the eye, 
And still unsated, dwelt upon the scene! 


Thence with what pleasure we have just discerned 
The distant plow slow-moving, and beside 

His lab’ring team that swerv’d not from the track, 
The sturdy swain diminished to a boy! 


Here Ouse, slow-winding through a level plain 
Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o’er, 
Conducts the eye along his sinuous course © 
Delighted. There, fast-rooted in his bank, 
Stand, never overlook’d, our favorite elms 
That screen the herdsman’s solitary hut; 


16 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


While far beyond and overthwart the stream 
That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale, . 
The sloping land recedes into the clouds; 
Displaying on its varied side the grace 

Of hedge-row beauties numberless, square tow’r, 
Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells 
Just undulates upon the list’ning ear; 

Groves, heaths, and smoking villages remote. 


Scenes must be beautiful which daily viewed we 


Please daily; and whose novelty survives 
Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years, 
Praise justly due to those that I describe.” 


All this would so move me that as I gazed I would 
be lost in admiration. Then the Spirit would reprove: 
“And you cannot look up and bless the Creator of all 
this;” and the thought would fall like a wet sheet over 
me, turning my joy to sadness. About this time my 
heart became very tender, and I would gladly get alone 
to pray. My elder brother was converted, and how I 
wished he would talk to me about my soul. Aftera 
time a sweet peace came to my heart. Then I became 
very anxious about my younger brother Willie, nearly 
four years younger than myself, that he should become 


a Christian; and every evening, taking our Testaments | 


with us, we would go up three flights of stairs into the 
garret, and there read a chapter, verse by verse; then, 
as neither of-us could sing, we would read over one, 
two or three hymns, then kneel in prayer; and truly 
the Lord did meet with us there, and bless us. I 
remember once, in coming down the stairs, I had such 
a feeling of holy joy that it shone all through my face, 
and I could see the beams of light. 

Soon after this, I went from my home to stay for a 
time with an uncle and aunt. They were quite worldly, 
and lived about a mile from the parish church, where 
once a week an unconverted man read a sermon; there 
was no Sabbath-school, and no help in any way. My 
uncle lived on a large farm, and IJ, being quite delicate, 
my mother thought the change to the country would 














MRS. CAROLINE JONES. 
(Sae Pages 34, 35, 36, 43, 46, 47, 53, 54.) 


REV. THOMAS FLUCK. 
(See Page 43.) 








‘ey 


ae. Dae 
aint te ” 


CONVERSION OF A SISTER. 17 


‘do me good. O if I had only known that with a 


constant reading of the Word of God, and secret 
prayer, I could have kept the oil in my lamp, never to 
go out! There were no religious books there; only 
some novels, and I became wonderfully interested in 
them. Soon the oil burned down, and the light went 
out. Then came “such an aching void, the world could 
never fill.” 

Years passed along, and I was “‘a stranger and an 
alien from the commonwealth of Israel, without God 


and without hope in the world,” though often the subject 


of deep convictions. My eldest brother had married 
and settled in Frome, Somersetshire. It was probably 
about two years from the time of his leaving the old 
home, when a letter came from him to say that business 
was dull, and they had determined to go to Australia. 
Gold mines had been discovered there, and the tide of 
emigration rolled that way. It seemed, when the letter 
was read, as though the very earth trembled beneath 
me, as I thought I might never see his face again on 
earth. I seemed to hold everything with just such a 
grasp, fearing I might lose everything, and had nothing 
beyond this world. How the Spirit here strove again 
to restore me to Christ and salvation! 


About this time, my sister Eliza was converted. 
Now we were traveling different roads—she on the 


' way to glory, I on the broad road leading to destruc- 


tion. Then I began earnestly to seek the Lord. For 
one month I drank deeply of the gall and wormwood 
of a genuine repentance. Often, during that long 
month, one promise kept me from despair: ‘‘Whoso- 
ever cometh unto me [ will in no wise cast out.” How 
I would plead it again and again with uplifted hands: 
“Lord, I come; thou hast said thou wilt in no wise 
cast out!’ When almost tempted to despair, these 
words would help me: 


“And if I perish at his feet, 
I'll be the first who ever perished there.” 


18 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


But the time of deliverance came near. It had 
been the custom of my sister Eliza and I to sit up 
together after all the rest of the family had retired, to 
enjoy the sweet inter-communion of thought, perhaps 
never more pure and free than between two sisters. 
On this never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath night we talked 
of the way of salvation, and as I told her just where I 
stood, ‘“‘no knowledge of the forgiveness of sins,” she 
said: ‘‘ You will never have an angel come from heaven 
to tell you, so you must ‘believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ.’” We parted, and again I cast myself on my 
knees, pleading for forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. Then 
the Lord revealed himself to me as my Savior, saying 
to my inmost being, ‘‘ Thy sins, which are many, are all 
forgiven.” Oh, the ineffable joy! I had passed from ~ 
darkness into light, from the kingdom of Satan into 
the kingdom of His own dear Son. I do not know 
that I closed my eyes in sleep that night; the joy was 
unspeakable and full of glory. I have been tempted 
by the great enemy in almost every way, but never 
once to doubt the reality of that great change; and 
may I not add, to the great glory of my Redeemer, 
that for forty-six years He has kept me from falling, 
and He will “present me faultless before his throne 
with exceeding joy!” Hallelujah! To Him be all the 
glory and praise forever and forever! Amen and 
amen! A child of God, an heir of eternal glory! 


Now came the question: ‘\How shall I ever go 
through?” for I knew somewhat of the stand I must 
take before my ungodly associates; “the race set be- 
fore me.” I must run if I would gain the crown. In 
condescending love the Lord gave me the very assur- 
ance He gave to Paul the Apostle: ‘My grace is suf- 
ficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in_ 
weakness.” © what an anchor these words have been 
to my soul in many an hour of conflict! ‘Through 
many a dark and stormy gale, my anchor’s held within 
the vail.” With the full consciousness of what God 
has wrought in me, came the longing desire to lead 


AGONIZING FOR SOULS. 19 


others to Jesus. Two brothers and one sister were 
still unsaved; now they were continually brought before 
God, while the cry would come up persistently, “Give 
me one soul, Lord; let me know, through thy rich 
grace, that J have been the means of the salvation of 
one soul.” 


CHAPTER If. 


Monrus passed, and I would be in and out among 
the homes of the people, by the bedsides of the sick, 
and teaching in the Sabbath-school. One night my 
father—who was a deacon of the Baptist church— 
came home from attending the monthly meeting (a 
meeting held for receiving members, and attending to 
any other business of the church), and told us of a boy 
named George Wethers, who had presented himself to 
be received as a member of the church; and how he 
had told of his conversion. His. sister Maria was one 
of our Sunday-school scholars. She had been sick-and 
I had visited her, and while telling that dear child of 
the way of salvation, that dear boy, too shy and retir- 
ing to come into the room, had listened at the door. 
Then if I stayed a little late, and it was dark, he would 
walk with me through the alley in which they lived, to 
the open street. The seed thus sown had fallen into 
good ground, and he was rejoicing in God his Savior. 
_ O the wondrous joy over this first spiritual child, only 
second to that of my own conversion. And still the 
cry went up for more—gzve me more souls, Lord! 

I had often pleaded for the conversion of my 
brother James, but faith would waver, and it seemed as 
though I could hope for everyone of the family easier 
than for him. One morning I called at his home for 
his wife, and as we walked together she said, “Sarah, I 
have good news to tell you.” Then she began to tell 
me of the conversion of my brother—herself only con- 


Bon Pe WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


verted a little while. ‘Stand still and see the salva- 
tion of the Lord”—words at that moment given me by - 
the Lord—“see My almighty power.” God had taken 
His own way in bringing him to a knowledge of 
himself, by showing him the insufficiency of all earthly 
things to satisfy the cravings of an immortal soul. 
Every wish of his heart had been gratified; married to 
one who had long been the object of deep love, my 
father had given him a share of his business, a nice 
home, and yet the restlessness was there still. ae 


Every Sabbath evening, after public worship, a 
young man, a day-laborer, would pass my brother’s 
house, on his way to a village three miles away, called ~ 
Ravenstone. He would be surrounded by his class of 
Sunday-school scholars, and they would all seem so 
happy; their cheerful voices, as they passed, would fall 
on that brother’s ear, and he would reason with 
himself: ‘That young man, so poor and yet so happy, 
while I have everything I could wish and yet so miser- 
able.” Then the Spirit would open his dark under- 
standing, showing him that he was “poor, and naked, 
and blind and miserable.’ The work was quickly 
done; repentance was deep and thorough, and then 
Jesus set up His own kingdom in that heart, and, with 
joy and freedom, he started in the divine life. A room 
in his home was set apart for meetings; neighbors 
came in, and souls were saved; then the field widened. 
Never an ordained minister, he was called by the 
Master into His great harvest field, still continuing for 
many years in business, but probably fifty Sabbaths ~ 
out of fifty-two, in all the country round, preaching the 
unsearchable riches of Christ. His wife and I would 
hold many cottage meetings in the neighborhood 
Then the Lord called her out into a wider field. I 
shall never forget the first time she took her place as 
public teacher, in the village of Barton. Brought up 
in a church which does not believe in women 
preaching, and two of her brothers clergymen in that 
church (the Established Church of England), there 


A DISCOURAGING CASE. 2 


was an unutterable shrinking. As we paced to and 
fro, the struggle went on; the “‘woe is me if I preach 
not the gospel” had come upon her. Signally the 
Lord stood by and strengthened her in that trying 
hour, and through her lips carried the glad tidings of 
salvation to many weary hearts. She endured perse- 
cution with the hundred-fold of blessing here, preach- 
ing the gospel often to great crowds for fourteen 
years, and has now entered into the joy of her Lord. 
The usual work, with herself and husband, during 
the summer, was preaching on the sea-shore to the 
multitudes gathered there. O what a privilege to bea 
co-worker with the Lord in bringing souls unto 
Himself! 


“ Thou canst not toil in vain; 
Cold, heat, and moist and dry, 
Shall foster and mature the grain 
For garners in the sky. 


Thou knowest not which shall thrive, 
The late, or early sown; 

Grace keeps the precious germ alive, 
When and wherever sown.” 

“Thou knowest not which may thrive.” One day, 
while walking down one of the back streets of Olney, 
a young woman came to me and asked: “Will you go 
and see my husband; he is drinking, and going on so 
badly.” Pointing out to me their home, I went; he 
was alone, and making shoes, and I felt from his 
manner that I was anything but a welcome guest 
Rough in his speech, as I tried to press on him the 
_ exceeding value of his immortal soul, he said he did 
not believe it was worth a shilling to himself or to 
anybody else. When I had said all I could think of, 
he._seemed totally unmoved. When about to leave, 
and with my hand on the door, the thought came, 
“this has been a fruitless visit.” 

Two or three days passed, and that young wife was 
in my home with the joyful news that her husband was 
seeking the Lord. I hastened to see him; but how 


\ 


22. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


changed! still making shoes, but with the open Bible 
before him, ‘‘a new creature in Christ Jesus.” He said: 
“Nothing that you said that day made any impression 
on me, but all that night I could see you, as you stood 
there talking to me with the tears rolling down your 
face; then my heart was broken at its own hardness; 
that you, a stranger, should care so much for me, while 
I cared nothing about myself.” ‘“O the riches of the 
wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are 
His ways!” He chooses the weak things of this world 
to carry out His purposes of love in the salvation of 
the human soul. A few days ago I received a letter 
from his wife. These many years of absence from my 
native land have not loosened or weakened the bond of 
love between us, and still out of the abundance of her 
heart she refers to that visit and its life-long glorious 
results. “As ye go, preach’ —‘ preach the gospel to 
every creature.” 

O what fillings up, in moments of secret commun- 


ion with God, we will daily need to go forth so charged | 


with the Spirit’s life and power that out of the abun- 
dance of the heart, from heart to heart, we can thus 
preach. 

Harlan Page, that devoted home missionary in 
New York, made it a rule never to talk with any one 
more than five minutes before speaking personally of 
religion; gathering by these efforts a multitude of 
souls, his joy here, his crown of rejoicing in that world 
of glory! 

Another member of the same family was also given 
me of the Lord—Mrs. Kitchener’s brother. I noticed 
one day a very poor cottage by the roadside. Prompted, 
I know, by the Spirit, I rapped at the door, and, receiv- 
ing no answer, went in. I found a young man looking 
wonderfully emaciated. After finding what was the 
matter-—asthma—I began to inquire if he was a Chris- 
tian. “No,” he said. ‘“‘Do you read the- Bible?” 


“No,” was the short, abrupt answer, “I don’t.” “Why - 


not?” Iasked, ‘ Because it’s full of contradictions all 


= eK rd 


THE CORRUPTION OF SIN. 23 


- through.” I told him I had read my Bible a great deal, 
and though there was much beyond my comprehension, 
I had never found any contradictions in it. 


“Now let us talk it all over; perhaps I can help 
you,’ Isaid. How I lifted up my heart to God for 
light and wisdom, and it was given me. Difficulty after 
difficulty was presented, and explanations given which 
seemed to satisfy him. After a long pause I asked: 
“Do you think of anything else?” and upon saying he 
did not, I said: ‘‘ Now, I would like to read to you,” 
and selecting the chapter of all the precious ones in 
God’s Holy Word for the wanderer, the 15th of Luke, 
his attention became riveted. The words that Jesus 
spake to him that day were spirit and life. As I read 
of the prodigal, of his misery in that far-off country, 
his coming to himself, his remembrance of that father’s 
home—he, William Mead, just like that wanderer—the 
wondrous light of God’s love shone into that heart; 
and for the first time in life he caught a glimpse of the 
grace of God, ‘‘ whose nature and whose name is love.” 
The Holy Spirit until that day had only moved on his 
heart as a reprover, convicting of sin, of righteousness, 
and of judgment; ‘‘carnal, sold under sin.” There had 
been awful resistance. God, the Holy One, to his 
darkened heart had only been a Judge before whose 
dread tribunal he would have to stand and be con- 
demned; and he said afterwards, ‘‘I hated Him.” The 
reading over, I asked him if he would like for me to 
pray with him. ‘No, thank you,” he said, “I have 
had quite enough.” But the arrow of conviction had 
entered that heart, never to be withdrawn until the 
-Savior’s own hand should remove it, and He Himself 
apply the balm of Gilead. Life had been to him so 
gloomy; extreme poverty, his mother a widow, sup- 
ported by parish allowance and the little she could 
earn by making lace. While his own health was so 
impaired, he could scarcely earn anything, and had 
been again and again tempted to commit suicide, and 
had gone down to the river’s brink for that purpose; 


.. Be iat, ky ee ues 
: Rt ot ae 


24 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


but courage would fail, or something prevent, every 
time. I had the joy of seeing him consecrate himself 
to Christ in holy baptism, and of often partaking with 
him the emblems of His dying love. Ina letter from 
him, when I had been in America some two or three 
years, he asked: ‘‘Do you go after the young men in 
America as you came after me?” adding, “not a day 
but I follow you with my prayers.” 

How often the memory of William Mead has 
cheered me in my work. What greetings by and by in 
that land of light and love! 

Many years ago he passed into the company of the 
redeemed. 


“© happy, happy land! in thee 
Shines the unveiled Deity; 
‘Shedding o’er each adoring breast 
A holy calm, a halcyon rest; 
And those blest souls whom death did sever, 
There meet to mingle joys forever. 
O when shall heaven unclose to me, 
And when shall I its glories see, 
And my now ransomed spirit stand 
Within that happy, happy land?” 


To visit the poor and the afflicted became an in- 
creasing delight, and a means of wonderful grace to my 
own soul. 

One day, calling from door to door, distributing 
tracts, always accepting the invitation, when given, to 
come in, I found a woman named Jane Britain, weak, 
suffering, and very poor, and her husband, a day- 
laborer, much given to drinking. But her bodily pain 
was little to the distress of her soul. The Spirit had 
gone before me, ‘convicting of sin, of righteousness, 
and of judgment,” and under the vivid light she saw 
herself condemned in the sight of a holy God. Her 
spirit fainted. I would pray with and try to direct her 
to “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the 
world.” Her faith would seem almost to grasp Him; 
then the thought of her own unworthiness would drift 


MY MARRIAGE. 25 


her away again, and on my next visit I would find her 
sunk in despondency. 

One Saturday morning her mother came in great 
haste to fetch me, with the tidings that Jane had 
broken a blood-vessel. As I entered the little cottage, — 
I felt such a sweet atmosphere of peace. Her eyes 
were closed, and she did not notice my entering the 
room. Taking my seat by her bedside, I began to 
repeat the Savior’s words: ‘‘Let not your heart be 
troubled; ye believe in God; believe also in Me.” She 
opened her eyes, beaming with heaven’s own light, 
exclaiming, as she stretched out her hand to me, ‘““O 
Miss Bass, I know we shall meet in heaven.” Every 
cloud had passed from her soul. By the eye of faith 
she had seen ‘‘ Him of whom Moses in the law and the 

_ prophets did write.” Hersun had arisen to go no more 
down forever. As towards evening of the day she 
watched the sun setting behind the western hills, she 
exclaimed: “That sun is very beautiful, but nothing to 
the Sun of Righteousness which has arisen in my 
heart.” And through those twenty-four hours she lin- 
gered on the shores of time, the language of her glad 
heart being, 


“The angels beckon me away, 
And Jesus bids me come.” 


CHAPTER Tk 


Time passed along, bringing its changes into our 
family circle. Two brothers were already married, 
and now the day came when my heart and hand were 
given to another, with him to walk life’s journey. My 
husband, John Howes Cooke, almost a year before our 
marriage, had come to live at Olney, my native place. 
His home was next door to our minister’s.. Under 
strong religious convictions, produced by the conver- 
‘sation of an uncle, and at once introduced to a circle 


26 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


of Christian friends, he became a Sunday-school 
teacher, and a regular attendant on all the services of 
God’s house. He had mistaken conviction, changed 
purposes, a moral life, for real heart-conversion; and a 
deep, tender human affection on both sides had 
unknowingly helped to continue the deception a little 
while. But, like the early dew or the morning cloud, 
all passed away, and the form and profession of godli- 
ness was all laid aside. It was a matter of deep heart- 
sorrow, and yet there mingled with it no self 
reproaches. And in the darkest day I ever saw, I had 
no doubt that the hand of my God led me, for had I 
not with exceeding earnestness laid this matter before 
Him, saying in the very language of Moses, “If Thy 
presence go not with me, carry me not up hence.” 
And as surely as he heard the voice of God, so did I, 
saying: ‘‘ My presence shall go with thee, and I will 
give thee rest.””. And so he did. 


I would often muse in grateful love that my work 
was so unhindered. I know the Lord’s hand was in it. 
Now and then came an earnest remonstrance from my 
husband, that I was going beyond my strength and 
would surely kill myself, but not otherwise hindering 
me. Never very strong or robust physically, he did 
not understand that to those who have no might the 
Lord increaseth strength, and that though even “ the ~ 
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men 
shall utterly fail,” yet ‘they that watt upon the Lord 
shall renew their strength, mount up with wings as 
eagles, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint;” 
all of which is included in experience on the road 
heavenward. Wonderfully kind was he in never wishing 
me to do any laborious work; ‘tyou have never been used 
to it,” he would say, ‘‘and I don’t want you to do it.” — 
How the hearts of all men are in God’s hand, and He 
turneth them as He will. ‘I will be,” He said to His 
ancient people, “a little sanctuary round about you,” 
and we enter into the heritage of promises given to 
them, for we are His covenant people. 


ra Tas 
ya 
' Me 


MY FATHER’S DEATH. 27 


How truly ‘when He putteth forth His own sheep, 
He goeth before them,” removing every hindrance out 
of the way. ‘“ Who shall roll us away the stone? ” said 
the women on the way to the sepulchre; and lo, it was 
rolled away! and an angel sat. upon it. Blessed experi- 
ence, continually fulfilled to His own disciples! 

My father had for many years suffered much from 
asthma, and had so often been brought very low that 


in his last sickness we did not apprehend any immedi- 


ate danger. On the Friday evening preceding his 
death, I was with him. He was in a very sweet, tender 
frame of mind, repeating parts of that glorious hymn: 


“ Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee. ” 


Then, looking back over life, he declared how sat- 
isfied he was with all God’s dealings with him. The 
language of his heart was like that of one of old; good- 
ness and mercy had followed him all the days of his 
life. Then he called me to his bedside to pray with 
him. Peace, perfect peace reigned within, and on 
Sabbath at noon, without a struggle, the spirit returned 
to God who gave it. 

- In him, the poor had always found a tender friend, 


~-one whose hand was ever stretched out to them. The 


first question often, when too cold for him to venture 
out, would be, “ did I know of any one suffering or in 
need,” and then the means would be given me to help 
them. Graciously in that last sickness the Lord ful- 
filled his promise: ‘“‘ Blessed is he that considereth the 


‘poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. 


The Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languish- 
ing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. ” 
This was in December. In the following year, I 
was called to the sick bed of my eldest sister, Eliza, 
living in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. I found 
her suffering from intermittent fever and general pros- 
tration. Always delicate, with a mind too active for 


the frail tenement in which it dwelt, during the first 


2 


28 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


stage of the sickness there seemed a strong clinging to 
life. Very happy in her marriage relationship—with 
many interests—a circle of loving friends, and an 
earnest worker in the cause of the Redeemer, life was 
full of attraction. Then the thought would come of 
her husband’s loneliness without her, and she said: “ I 
would be quite willing to go, but Harry would miss me 
so much; ” but faith triumphed over nature and, a little 
later, she said: ‘‘ The Lord could make Harry a happy 
home if He should take me. ” 

Day by day the attraction heavenward became 
stronger. Once, when all was fixed for the night, and 
I was about leaving the room, she called me to her, 
and looking earnestly into my face she said: “Sarah, 
don’t you pray for my recovery.” Reminding her how 
much we all loved her, and how glad we would be to 
keep her with us, she answered: ‘And I love you all 
very much; but it is so much better to depart and be 
with Jesus.” While with her through the day, and 
listening to the doctor’s cheery and hopeful words, I 
would think she might recover; but in prayer I could 
never take hold for her health—could only breathe 
out, ‘“* Thy will, O Lord, not mine, be done.” 

The prayer of faith, in which at times our Father 
enables His children to take hold for the healing of 
the body, was never given. In His infinite love and 
wisdom He was calling her home, 


“ Where no storms ever beat on that beautiful strand, 
While the years of eternity roll.” 


Every afternoon, she liked for about an hour to 
be left entirely alone. The fever would then be off, 
and she chose it as the best time for secret communion 
with the Lord. Opening the door one day, after the 
hour had passed, she sat upright in bed, her face radi- 
ant with joy as she exclaimed: “ OI have had such a 
view of God’s love!” Stretching out her hands, she 
said: ‘‘ It seems to me like a boundless ocean, and as 
though I was lost in that boundless ocean of love!” 


~ MY SISTER’S LAST ILLNESS. 29 


When suffering from extreme prostration, her favorite 
lines would be: 


“ Christ leads us through no darker rooms 
Than He went through before; 
He that would to His kingdom come, 
Must enter by that door. ”’ 


“Do you,” said a dear friend to her one day, 
“ have any fear of death?” ‘Oh, no,” she answered, 
“ T don’t know that I have ever thought of it.” The 
word death was never on her lips. The “ valley of the 
shadow ” was all bridged over. She did not see it, for 
the eye of faith swept over it, and was on Him who is 
the resurrection and the life. ‘To be with Jesus” 
was her oft-repeated expression; repeating on Friday, 
with tenderest, deepest joy, the whole of that beautiful 
hymn: ; 
‘“ Forever with the Lord, 
Amen, so let it be; 
Life from the dead is in that word, 
* Tis immortality. 
Here in the body pent, 
Absent from Him I roam; 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
A day’s march nearer home. ”’ 


The Sabbath dawned, her last day on earth. See- 
ing the end was very near, I hesitated about leaving 
her to meet her Bible-class at the chapel, a large class 
of young women. I had been teaching them every 
Sabbath afternoon. ‘Would you like me, dear, to 
- take your class this afternoon?” Iasked. ‘Yes,’ she 
answered with some surprise in her voice, “why not? 
And tell them all I have loved and prayed for them 
very much.” It was a melting time as we all together 
realized how near the parting was. 

Our lesson that day was the words of comfort our 
Savior had spoken to His disciples, recorded in the 
14th of John. Returning from the school with the 
class, they all passed by the open door, to take a last 


30 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


look of their loved teacher. Wonderfully all through 
the day these words were applied to my heart: “If ye 
loved Me, ye would rejoice because I go unto My 
Father;” until the thought of her exceeding blessedness 
in being so near the presence of Jesus swallowed up all 
thoughts of sorrow at losing her. Hour after hour 
passed as the “silver cord was loosening.” 

An aunt, Mrs. Tuxford, remarked: ‘‘ You have had 
seven weeks of peace.” ‘I have had seven weeks of 
perfect peace,” she answered. Her peace flowed like 
a river all through the day; at times she spoke words 
of fullest trust. With her head leaning on the bosom 
of her husband, the last words that our listening ears 
caught were: ‘‘ Though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art 
with me.” 

On the same day, March 7th, 1864, my husband 
left our native land for America. Bright prospects he 
thought he saw of openings for great success in Chi- 
cago, the far-away city of the West. His brother, who 
had a large business in Northampton, guided and 
planned the whole enterprise, which was to pack and 
salt meats in the English way. 

My husband’s first investment proved a failure and 
loss. He had letters of introduction, and was most 
kindly entertained in the home of General and Mrs. 
Cooke and their brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. 
Brainerd; but a long time elapsed before he got into 
any business. How often I saw the hand of the Lord 
in this. In the homes of my widowed mother and 
brother-in-law, in some measure, the Lord helped me to 
comfort and cheer them in their loneliness. 

My mother was very averse to my coming to 
America, and could not hear it mentioned without sad- 
ness. O how I would lay the whole case before the 
Lord, with one desire above every other, to know His 
will concerning me. On one occasion, especially, these 
words wonderfully helped me: “ Be careful for nothing, 
but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with 


‘ 





SP SEEKING DIVINE GUIDANCE. 31 


thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto 
God.” Then followed the glorious promise: “And the 
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall 
keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” My 
soul anchored right on that promise. 


‘His purposes will ripen fast, 
Unfolding every hour; 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet will be the flower.” 


During this time the Lord led me out much more 
fully into his work, especially that of holding cottage 
-prayer-meetings and visiting from house to house. 
There heart touches heart, and as to the disciples on 
their way to Emmaus, so the Savior now draws near. 
Eighteen hundred years in glory have made no differ- 
ence; Jesus is “the same yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever.” 

Time passed on, and the letters from my husband 
became more urgent for me to come and join him in 
~ America; and still my way did not seem clear before me. 

One Saturday afternoon, alone in the middle of a 
large field, in Leicestershire, I knelt in prayer. My 
path was intricate, and my own wisdom all insufficient 
to decide as to the step I ought to take. But the Lord 
enabled me, with a Jacob-like grip of faith, to take 
hold of His strength, that I might prevail with Him. 
He brought before my mental vision the scene of the 
children of Israel: The daily guidance, He Himself 
leading them in all the way, they only journeying 
_ through the wilderness, looking out for the guiding 
pillar of fire or of cloud to know His will. And the 
blessed assurance was given that so He would daily 
guide me. 

No tongue can tell the unutterable sweetness that 
came; the calm rest in His sure guidance. All painful 
doubt and uncertainty was gone, and ever and anon 
- since then, as circumstances of perplexity have arisen, 
_~ have I leaned not in vain on that most precious promise, 


32 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Three years had passed, and the way was all 
opened, and He in whose hands are the hearts of all 
men had brought my dear mother and brother to be 
willing. My husband’s brother had joined him, and 
they had commenced business together. 

‘The pressing invitation had come, and soon we 
were under sail, on our way to New York—Mrs. George 
Cooke, her two little boys and servant, and myself. I 
had often seen the ocean from the cliffs of England, 
but this was my first- voyage. What thoughts it inspired 
of God and of His wonders in the great deep. Iloved 
to siton the deck and see the boundless expanse of 
waters and the star-lit sky. It would seem as though 
no one could behold it and doubt the existence of God. 
The spreading heavens were as a tabernacle all around 
us; and, lifting up our eyes, the thought of Him who 
had created all these things, who had brought out their 
hosts by number, made it seem natural to adore and 
worship Him! For a few days all was calm and bright. 
Then the wind began to rise, and a storm increased 
steadily for three days, until the large steamer seemed 
-like a cork, tossed by the mighty billows. Sabbath 
evening came, and between seventy and eighty of us 
sat down to supper. The hum of many voices heard 
before at every gathering was hushed. That night, as 
we individually realized the awful peril we were in, 
(‘let the great sea of my soul stay itself, my God, on 
Thee,” said St. Augustine, and a greater than he has 
said, ‘I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on Me,”) every fear was taken from my soul, 
and the only sad thought was of the grief of loved 
- ones. The scene was all so vivid; the gurgling of the 
waves, the few moments of physical suffering; then the 
soul to take her place in the presence of Jesus, 


“To see the Lamb in His own light, 
Who here we dimly see; 
And gaze, transported at the sight, 
Through all eternity.” 











(See Pages 4%, 49, 52, 204, 207) 


oe See ee} 








REY. C. H. SPURGEON 
(See Pages 145, 146, 243.) 


AT HOME IN CHICAGO. 3 


LoS) 


There was an earnest committing of ourselves to 
God, as we knelt in our little cabin, and then, lying 
down under His sheltering wing, we awoke to find the 
great danger had passed. The waves, by His mighty 

_ power, had been stilled. Hallelujah, the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth! 

We were ten days on the ocean. My husband’s 
brother met us on our landing in New York, he having 
come from Chicago for this purpose, and to journey 
with us to our future westera home. 

It was Saturday night, about midnight, when we 
reached Chicago. What a mutual joy to meet again 
after this long separation! 


CHAPTER IV. 


Oovr first home was on Wabash avenue, near Mad- 
ison street. How I would look on the countless 
throngs, as they passed morning and evening, and feel 
what it was to be “a stranger in a strange land.” And 
the question would come: “ Will I ever love anyone, or 
will anyone ever love me in this great city? Can I 
find a work to do here for my Lord?” And soon the 
way opened and I found a home in the Second Baptist 
Church, at the corner of Morgan and Monroe streets. 
I can never forget how kindly I was received by the 
pastor, Dr. Goodspeed, and the church. In the Bap- 
tist church, where I had been brought up in England, 
no woman’s voice was ever heard; but here they were 
free. The words of Joel, repeated by the Apostle 
Peter on the day of Pentecost,—‘* And on my servants 
and on my handmaidens I will pour out of my Spirit; 
and they shall prophesy’”—had been recognized as a 
standing rule for God’s church in this dispensation of 
the Holy Spirit. 

The pastor would speak words of encouragement, 
and the Spirit would move on me mightily, but O the 


34 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


shrinking! I would no sooner take my seat than 
the accuser would attack me, generally telling me what 
a fool I had made.of myself. How I would feel so 
abashed! ‘“O if I could but sink out of everyone’s 
sight!” Then one night the thought came to me: “I 
never call anyone a fool, and no one ever calls me a 
fool; this must be the voice of the tempter;” and he 
did not come in just that way again, but in others. 

One Wednesday night the Spirit so moved me to 
speak, but the tempter reasoned. (Mr. Wesley said, 
“Beware of the reasoning devil.”) O how many 
blessings he has robbed us of! The meeting closed; 
my opportunity was gone; and as I left the church it 
seemed as‘tthough the darkness of Egypt had settled 
down on me. Walking alone across Madison street 
bridge, the Lord in His tender compassion spoke to 
me in these never-forgotten words: “ Laft up your voice 
Like a trumpet, lift it-up and be not afraid. Say unto the 
people, behold your God.” No doubt, from that hour, 
has ever rested on me about woman’s speaking in the 
churches; no doubt about my own call from His own 
Spirit to go forth in His name and preach the gospel. 

I soon found out the noonday prayer-meeting, 
held at the Y. M. C. A. hall for more than a quarter of 
a century, missing only once, (on the day of the 
Chicago fire, when the building was consumed,) a 
gathering from which a noble band of workers had 
gone forth to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. 

One Saturday morning, on leaving the noonday 
prayer-meeting, I was accosted by a stranger. She 
had come lately from the East, and her heart yearned 
for Christian fellowship and sympathy. Soon our 
hearts were knit together in love. We commenced a 
prayer-meeting on a Saturday evening, and she joined 
me in work already commenced in the Bridewell. It 
might have been our third visit together, as we left the 
gate of the Bridewell, when Mrs. Hawxhurst stopped 
me, saying, ‘I don’t think I am going to live long.” 
“Why, what makes you think so?” I asked in surprise. 











A FAITHFUL EVANGELIST. 35 


“Oh, Iam so happy; why, it don’t seem as though my 
. feet touched the ground as I walk.” I said: “You 
-have begun to work for the Lord, and He is paying 
you your wages.” “He that reapeth receiveth wages, 
and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.’”” More and more 
she realized the glorious truth. How often I have 
seen her face as that of an angel, as her life became 
increasingly devoted to the work of rescuing the per- 
ishing. 

One instance I must give here of the Lord’s guid- 
_ance and blessing, received from her own lips: One 
morning she was especially drawn out in prayer that 
she might be directed in helping some soul. Starting 
down one of the poor streets—Third or Fourth avenue 
—and stepping up to a small house, she rapped at the 
door. Receiving no answer, she walked in. There, in 
a corner of the room, lay a man, apparently very 
sick, with a little child by his side. On inquiring she 
found that he was suffering from hemorrhage of the 
lungs. On Mrs. H——— asking if he was a Christian, 
he told her he was not, adding: ‘‘I am a great sinner.” 
Taking her place by his side, she explained to him the 
-work of the Redeemer; how He came into the world to 
save the lost. “But I am such a great sinner;” and 
the thought of his own great sinfulness engrossed and 
apparently hid from him the greatness of the atone- 
ment. E 

One day, entering the room, she found a change 
had come, “the translation from darkness into light,” 
and he soon told the glad story. ‘I was sitting here 
in my chair last night, when all at once I saw a field. 
It looked so green, as though it had been new-mown, 
Then I saw it was dotted all over with sheep, and saw 
a great hill beyond, and the Good Shepherd came 
down it, and He walked among the sheep. I thought 
He would not see me, and I could not get out of my 
chair to Him; but He came right up to me and put 
His hand upon my head, and I looked on myself, and 
- I was white as snow.” Now followed deep peace— 





36 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Jesus his Savior—sins, that were many, all forgiven for 
His name’s sake. 

She found him one morning with eyes closed, and 
the bed moving under the strong emotion that stirred 
the body and soul. Recognizing her, he said: “This 
old body could not stand much more of this glory; it 
just goes through me.” 

After his conversion he always addressed Mrs. 
H as Sister. Reading to him one day out of the 
precious Word, ‘“‘Let not your heart be troubled; ye 
believe in God, believe also in Me,” he said: “Stop, 
Sister; I want you to read that over to me again, and 
put my name, John Parker, in.” It was read, “Let not 
your heart be troubled, John Parker; you believe in 
God, believe also in Me.” ‘Yes, Lord-Jesus,” he said, 
“J isn’t a bit troubled, for I do believe in you. Read 
on, Sister, and put my name in every verse,” respond- 
ing with wonderful satisfaction as she read it. 

The closing scene drew near, and as she watched 
by him he said: “Sister, don’t you hear the angels 
singing?” ‘ No,” she answered, ‘I do not hear them.” 
A little while, and more eagerly he asked again: 
“Don’t you hear the angels singing? why the room is 
full of them.” It might be that the same company 
who carried the poor Lazarus from the-rich man’s 
gate had come to take this ransomed one home. “It 
may be,” she said, ‘“‘when as near heaven as you are | 
shall hear them too.” 

The shades of evening were just closing, and, said 
my loved friend, it seemed that as his spirit passed 
from earth to heaven, the room was filled with the 
glory of God. ‘I was sick and ye came unto Me.” 





“Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood ; 
Shall never lose its power, ‘ 
Till all the ransomed church of God 
Are saved to sin no more.” 


This gospel moves the human heart as nothing 


else can do. On one occasion, out in the very early 
morning, Mrs. H noticed a man sitting on the 





SANCTIFIED LIVES. 37 





edge of the sidewalk, ragged and sunk apparently to 
the lowest depths. The Spirit prompted her to go 
and speak to him. Addressing him sweetly, in the 
language of love and tenderness, he looked up, asking; 
“Who calls mea friend?” Dazed and bewildered, she 
took him with her and procured a suit of clothes and 
found for him a home. Soon, like the prodigal, he 
came to himself. He had come from the East, falling 
lower and lower from a high position; brought back 
again by her loving hand, to his Father’s house, we 
trust, to go no more out forever. 

In the homes of the people, moving as an angel of 
light, ministering to the wants of soul and body, con- 
trasting, sometimes, the past with the present, she would 
say: ‘If in my heme of elegance in Brooklyn, I could 
have seen myself as I now am, carrying large burdens 
and spending my time as I do, how miserable I should 
have been!” Then, speaking of its exceeding blessed- 
ness, the ‘“‘ hundred-fold”’ in present joy and peace, for 
all given to Him, she added that life had a blessedness 
she had never dreamed of before. 


SANCTIFICATION. 


In my own country I had read and been wonder- 
fully helped by the lives of Carvosso, Mr. and Mrs. 
~Fletcher, and Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers, and would 
often wonder if there were any such Christians now on 
the earth, thinking how I would like to meet with 
them. He that fulfilleth the desires of them that fear 
Him had led me to America; and I was invited to go 
to a camp-meeting at St. Charles, Ill. I went, full of 
curiosity and expectation. On reaching the camp- 
ground (I shall never forget the first impressions), it 
- seemed to me as the very vestibule of heaven. The 
very atmosphere seemed purer than that of earth. As 
I looked over the large congregation, I wondered they 
were all so plainly dressed. I thought, surely they must 
all be very poor people to dress so, and was very much 
puzzled about it. At the next morning service I sat 


38 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


where I could see many of their faces. Sucha look of 
heavenly purity beamed from them. As I looked and 
looked, I was more and more impressed that there was 
a connection between their simple dress and the looks 
of purity and peace that sat on their countenanceS, 
while the Spirit of the Lord whispered: ‘They have 
taken the world from the outside, and I have taken it 
from within.” 

Two loved sisters, now in glory, Mrs. Mary Tuck 
and Mrs. Phcebe Rosencrans, had welcomed me, with 
many others, to their tent. I can see them now, as 
they waited on God’s children. How I would gaze on 
their heaven-touched faces, beaming with the glory of 
God, and my soul would cry out to the living God for 
such an experience. Then the Lord would ask me: 
“Are you willing to pay the price?” and would draw 
my eyes from their radiant faces to the plain dresses. 
I can see them now. What an unutterable shrinking! 
Common calico, a little linen collar, bonnets the plain- 
est that could be made; no bow, no feather, no lace, no 
flower! Could I give up all the world and take that line? 
The devil said: ‘* You would look just like an old washer- 
woman;” and then the thought of husband, unsaved 
and very proud, would come; could I bear his displeas- 
ure and disapproval? The Spirit would talk to me. If 
I loved any earthly relation more than Jesus my Lord, 
I was not worthy of Him; giving me the foreshadowing 
of the hundred-fold in this life, and also of the perse- 
cution that would follow. One evening there stood 
near our tent a little company singing that old but (to 
me, then) new song, one verse of which particularly 
struck me; it was this: 

“If Christ would live and reign in me, 

I must die! 
Like Him I crucified must be; 
I must die! 
Lord, drive the nails, nor heed the groans; 
The flesh may writhe and make its moans, 
But this’s the way, and this alone— 
1? 


‘ - I must die 





THE SANCTIFYING SPIRIT. 39 































aa If there and then I had seen the nails, and the 
_ hammer ready to drive them through my trembling 
_ flesh, I could scarcely have shrunk more; and evermore 

the searching Word of God would come, urging on to 
obedience; as “after this manner in the old times the 
_ holy women, also, who trusted in God adorned them- 
__ selves;” and “‘ whose adorning let it not be that outward 
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, 
'- or of putting on apparel.” Oh, how patient, how good, 
~~ my Lord was with me! And then what preaching, 
_ “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” aad 
“in demonstration of the Spirit!” I could understand 
the power the first apostles had, as I listened to those 
holy men of God— Brothers Roberts, Travis and Ter- 
“rill. One sermon of Brother Travis’ was glorious 
beyond description. His text was 2 Cor. 3: 18: “We 
all with open face beholding as ina glass “the g glory of 
_ the Lord, are changed into the same image,” etc. Before 
_ the sermon closed, rays of glory beamed from his face 
__ as from the face of Moses as he came down from the 
_ mount; and we gazed, adored and wondered. The time 
of yielding came, when I was to be crucified to the 
- world. It wasa struggle. All had been laid on the 

-altar—husband, dress, reputation, all yielded; every- 
_ thing, with self, a living sacrifice. It seemed as though 
the very powers of darkness were let loose on my soul 
_ in that time of sore agony. 


$s In the darkness of the night, it became almost 

insupportable, and I thought 1 would awaken a dear 
sister, and we would go out alone together, when the 
_words were spoken to my inmost soul, ‘ ‘He trode His 
Gethsemane alone, and so must you.” I held on. I 
_ had no idea of time in that fearful Gethsemane of suf- 
_ fering, but tired nature, after it, sank in sleep. When 
_-the morning dawned, and I awoke to consciousness, 
_ then came the blessed assurance that God had sancti- 
‘fied me wholly. As I looked out of the tent, the world 
shad never looked so beautiful, and the thought came, 





40 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


ones of the past lived on, and the blessed consciousness 
that I was as near God as they were. 


“PURIFIED, MADE WHITE AND TRIED.” 


The blessing of sanctification was received about 
June, 1871, and all was kept on the altar of sacrifice for 
about two weeks before our great Chicago fire. With 
so much power the words of the prophet would come 
to me: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, 
neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the olive 
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flocks 
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no 
herd in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will 
joy in the God of my salvation.”” I would ponder: 
What did it mean? for I knew the Lord did not send - 
such strong impressions for nothing. 

It was Sabbath-night. Mr. Moody had preached 
in Farwell Hall, and the second meeting was being 
held. The alarm of fire had been sounded two or three 
times. The Spirit prompted me to speak to warn sin- 
ners to flee from the wrath to come. Some that were 
in that meeting that night perished within twenty-four 
hours in the flames. How often I have looked back 
and regretted that lost opportunity. The meeting dis- 
persed. The fire alarm again and again sounded. My 

-husband said: ‘‘ There must be a very large fire on the 
West Side,” and went out to see it. It had been a day 
filled with work. In a little time I was aroused from 
a deep slumber by my husband’s voice saying, “ You 
must get up directly; the fire has crossed the river and 
will soon be here.” MHurriedly gathering a few things 
together and placing them in the entry of Farwell Hall, 
we hastened out. None who saw that scene can ever 
forget the roaring of the flames, the crashing of 
buildings. Often these words would come to me: “We 
shall triumph when the world is in a blaze,” while such 
a consciousness of the presence of God as a stronghold 
in the day of trouble brought the deepest peace. Stand- 
ing by the side of a lady in deep mourning, I asked if 









FAITH TRIED BY FIRE. 41 


her home was burned. ‘ No,” she said; “is yours?” 
Pointing to the flames that had already caught the 
building, telling her there we lived, I added: “I have 
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; 
no fire would ever consume that home.” How the 
3 tears rolled down her cheeks. I don’t know that I 
¥ have seen her since that day. It seemed as though the 
f Lord had such a perfect right to do as He would with 
His own. He gave, and He had taken away; blessed 
be the name of the Lord! 


} 
‘ 
; 
d Every dray, every express wagon, was engaged. 
Kr Husband, with the help of a colored man, carried two 
trunks to the vacant lot at the foot of Madison street, 
4 by Lake Michigan. The next Sabbath morning came 
4 and as I prepared for the service, the thought came, 
B: for the first time in my life, ‘I have no home;” then 
followed the words of Jesus: ‘The foxes have holes, 
; and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
a hath not where to lay His head.” Oh, the tender 
, feelings! It seemed as though I was a step nearer my 
Br Savior than I had ever been before. Reaching the 
‘ church early, there came a fuller blessing; such a man- 
+4 ifestation of God, my God!—the gifts gone; the Giver 
5 mine—my everlasting portion. Down on the floor, 
es” between those seats, I poured out the deep thanks- 
ta giving of my soul in adoring gratitude and love. At 
first we did not know but what nearly all was gone— 
banks, insurance, all. But ina little time the bank in 
which husband had most of his means deposited made 
f all good, and the insurance company, also, paid almost 
all. It was just the trial of faith—a proof of God’s all- 
sufficiency in every time of need! Such a wonderful 
y consciousness that amidst all that awful confusion, His 
me: eye was on every one. A family were living in the 
same building—Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord and children 





ie Mrs. G- was in quite delicate health. They 
— __ all walked as far as they could, then stopped on a 
-__ door-step, feeling they could go no farther. A woman 


” in that house, upstairs, was’ greatly impressed that 





42 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, 


some one at her door needed help. Going down, she 
took this family in, and for weeks sheltered and cared 
for them. O how the world’s great heart was moved! 
What pouring in of everything to help in that time of 
great distress and need! 

My two brothers-in-law and their families spent 
the next night on the open prairie. It was days before 
we found each other. Churches, all available places, 
were turned into homes and places of shelter for the 
80,000 homeless ones, and not one forgotten before ~ 
God. 

A colored woman in my class in the Rock Island 
Mission, in trying to save all she could from the 
flames, as she turned to escape found the fire was all 
around her: so, to quote.her own words: “I just set 
myself up against the building; I shut my eyes and 
said: ‘Lord, if my time has come, take me,’ and when 
I opened my eyes I just see one way out.” 

Many had such narrow escapes from death. 


MR. MOODY’S PENTECOST. 


At this time Mr. D. L: Moody was a very active 
worker in the Young Men’s Christian Association. 
Living quite near the rooms, I soon became deeply 
interested in their work. At their Yoke-Fellows’ 
meetings, temperance, noon and other meetings, 
women of God were heartily welcomed. Mr. Moody 
was an earnest, whole-souled worker; but ever to me 
there seemed such a lack in his words. It seemed 
more the human, the natural energy and force of char- 
acter of the man, than anything spiritual. I felt he 
lacked what the apostles received on the day of Pen- 
tecost. Dear Sister Hawxhurst and myself (almost 
always together) would after the evening meetings 
talk with him about it. At first he seemed surprised, 
then convicted; then asked us to meet with him on 
Friday afternoon fer prayer. At every meeting he 
would get more in earnest, in an agony of desire for 
this fullness of the Spirit, while the travail of the soul 


































~ camp-ground, I shall never forget. 

He has often told, himself, as to when and how 
the mighty baptism fell on him in Wall street, New 
- York, and of its blessed results. Few have watched 
that life with a deeper interest than I. The continual 
prayer of my heart has been, “ Lord, keep him humble 
as a little child at Thy feet.” 

After that wonderful work in England and Scot- 
_ Jand, on his return to Chicago, when it was announced 
that he would be in Farwell Hall, what a gathering to 
welcome him back again! Was he the same? Had 
all this wonderful success and popularity not puffed 
him upeor exalted him? No, he was just the same 
‘simple-hearted man, and as intensely in earnest as 
ever. I thanked God and took courage. O what 
are any of us but the cloud on which the ae of Right- 
eousness can shed some of the beams of His glory? 
“All, all from Him; and to Him for every one of His work- 
men we would ascribe the praise and the glory forever. 


CHAPTER V._ 


Asout this time we were holding meetings each 
Sabbath afternoon in Lincoln Park, and on the way, 
one Sabbath, for the first time we met Mr. Wm. Han- 
mer. He had lately come from England with a heart 
all aglow with the love of God and earnest zeal for His 
cause. There were three or four others who had been 
~ local preachers in the old country, longing to work in 
the cause of the Redeemer; and so the Lord led us to 
forma Mission Band, to go anywhere as He should lead 
us and open our way to ‘labor for Him. Chas. Cooke, 
Wm. Hanmer, Jas. Bird, Mr. Dickinson, Wm. Jones, 
i Henry Huck, Mrs. Hawxhurst, Daniel Andrews, Thos. 
_ Fluck, Richard Martin and Sarah A. Cooke constituted 
the band. 


44 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


From the very commencement the blessing of the 
Lord rested upon us. The band was composed of Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Methodists, 
and were all one in Christ Jesus. No denominational 
bickerings disturbed the harmony of our work. The 
Bible was our guide; the blessed Savior our Head and 
Leader. In our business meetings, held once a month, 
if there was anything like friction, or difference of 
opinion, some one would propose prayer, and as the 
full breathings of our hearts for light and wisdom would 
go up, the blessing would come and we would see eye 
to eye, and the unity or the Spirit would be kept in the 
bond of peace. 


I remember once, when looking out for a room on 
the North Side in which to hold a mission, such a 
weight of the divine glory coming on me that the body 
staggered beneath it. 


Two of our fellow-laborers in the glorious one 
Mr. Dickinson, a man of large, tender heart, to whose 
wise counsel we owed cent in our work—a minister 
among the Presbyterians—and Mr. James Bird, have 
passed to glory. As we looked on Bro. Bird’s face in 
death he seemed “like a warrior taking his rest;” 
and, realizing the presence of the Lord, I only restrained 
the shout of joy which welled up in my soul because of 
the presence of his weeping daughter, who had come 
from her home in Dakota too late, for the spirit had 
passed from its tabernacle of clay, ‘to be forever with 
Ene Lords" 


FROM MY JOURNAL, 


October 30th, 1871.—To-day I begin another jour- 
nal. All past records were destroyed in the terrible 
fire which has visited us, leaving one-fourth of our city 
in ruins. Blessed be the name of the Lord!—through 
it all He has kept me, as in the hollow of His hand, in 
perfect peace. And now we look for the fruit of this 
great judgment. ‘‘When Thy judgments are abroad in 
the earth, then the people shall learn wisdom,” 





CONSECRATION. 4s 


Spoke at the Wednesday night prayer-meeting of 
the Lord’s great goodness in that time of trial, and 
that henceforth I would look upon nothing as my own; 
all should be given to God—all for Him—time, talents, 
nothing I have henceforth. considered my own, but 
henceforth and forever, ‘not I that live, but Christ 
living in me.” 

November 6.—Spoke at an out-of-door meeting on 
the ruins, and at night held a meeting at Mrs. Wright’s. 

November 12.—Heard Mr. Bailey preach on “ Ye 
that make mention of the Lord keep not silence.” He 
said: There are two classes of obligation, personal 
and relative. Ye are a royal priesthood. How par- 
ticular was the purification of the priests’ holy gar- 
ments. Blood on the toe and thumb. God kindled 
the fire; they had to watch it that it did not go out, and 
to supply the sacrifices. Yeare God’s remembrancers; 
keep not silence. The priests in the temple watched, 
repeating the 134th Psalm, lifting up their hands and 
praising God. Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost. 

To-morrow we leave here; and now, gracious Mas- 
ter, Thou who didst lead thy people in the wilderness, 
go before and I will follow. 





[ 
a” 


“T nothing have, I nothing am; 
= . My treasure’s in the bleeding Lamb, 
Now and forever more.” 


I must remember that in every place there will be 
the daily cross. ‘‘ Deny thyself, take up thy cross daily 
and follow Me.” 

December 3.—Sabbath evening. Met with the 
Yoke Fellows; had a precious time together, and the 

_ second meeting was more spiritual than usual. 
- December 24.—At home to-day (Sabbath), with a 
: cold. I miss my old books, the Lives of. Fletcher, 
Bramwell and Madame Guyon. It was the Savior’s 
L promise to His disciples that the Spirit should bring all 
a things to their remembrance; and now I have asked 
that the same blessed Spirit may make up the loss of 


46 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


these precious works. O so to abide in Jesus that I 
may ask what I will and it shall be done unto me. I 
want victory everywhere, in the blood of the Lamb; 
such a realizing sense of God’s presence as never, under 
any circumstances, to lose it. And watchfulness, every- 
where, to live for God’s glory, and more prayer for - 
others. 

January 2, 1872.—How frequently I lose the oppor- 
tunity of testifying for my Lord. I do know the Shep- 
herd’s voice, and must be more prompt to obey. 

January 12.—Another change. Dear Mrs. Hawx- 
hurst has left us. We miss her so much! we have had 
such sweet communion together. Have received a 
present of money from my dear mother to replace my 
books and clothes lost in the great fire. 

January 15.—Went to the Erring Woman’s Refuge 
yesterday. The Lord is working there. Am so glad 
Dear Sister Tuck is there. What an influence her lov- 
ing Christian spirit has had on those fallen ones. Went 
forward at the Free Methodist Church for the blessing, 
again, of full sanctification. Know I have not had the 
victory over every feeling of irritability and impatience, 
and have been wanting in tender, gentle, patient love.. 
As I sought and ventured again, the all-cleansing blood 
was applied. When the witness is not clear I venture ~ 
on the promise, ‘‘Reckon ye yourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord;” and the witness has come, clear as 
day. 

March 10.—Feel as though nearing a crisis in tem- 
poral matters. Things look very dark ahead. To my 
own judgment it has seemed as though we ought to 
make some change; but every time I make an effort all 
the peace seems to leave my soul, and is only regained 
by again quietly leaving all. Thou knowest, O Lord, 
I desire to know and do Thy will in all things. 

February 6.—Much prayer yesterday with Sister 
H and Mr. Jones; the savor of that sweet drawing 
near to God seems to abide to-day. To-day prayed 















= a 
Tt Les 


FROM MY JOURNAL. 47 


. _— with Mr. Dickinson for the holy anointing to be upon 


him. Am looking forward to a visit from Sister Coon. 
O the deadness and supineness everywhere to spiritual 
things. O my Lord, endue her with power from on 
high as she comes among us. 

February 19—Sister Coon left us, quite sick, on 
Saturday. Went with her to several meetings; felt 
much of the Spirit’s power, especially when holiness 
was the theme. Began a meeting on Saturday night 
for the promotion of holiness. It seemed on our way 

_ home, after the first meeting, as though the heavens 
were opening, I felt such touches of glory. I see it 
becomes irksome to those who still cling to the world, 
longing for the blessing, and yet not willing to lay all 
on the altar and be crucified unto the world and the 

_ world unto them. Have received a letter from my dear 
sister Fanny, which has stirred the depths of my soul. 


_. She has suffered so much; and now, in prospect of again 


becoming a mother, she asks me, should she be taken, 
that her children may be the subject of my prayers, 
and, if possible, of my personal care. Blessed Lord, 
if consistent with Thy holy will, spare her precious life. 
Mrs. Hawxhurst has been invited to the Halsted Street 
Mission. How earnestly, last night, we sought guidance 
of the Lord about it. 

- February-19.—My beloved sister’s birthday; anda 
letter has come telling of her safe delivery. ‘Bless 
the Lord, O my soul.” 

April 7A precious meeting at the Y. M.C. A. 
Spoke of Jesus ascending in the act of blessing His 
disciples. He is still the same. One thousand years 

_ has not diminished that fountain of exhaustless love. 
“The same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” Still He 
calls. Jerusalem sinners, whose hands were red with 
His blood, were the first to hear the invitation; all His 

_love rejected, He will say, “ Behold ye despisers, and 
wonder and perish.” 

April 20.—Meeting at Sister Dudman’s. She gave 
a clear testimony of the victory she has everywhere 


Bw 


48 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Spoke of drawing the thoughts continually back to 
God, Could not spare the time to let them rest on 
unprofitable subjects; as soon as they came she looked 
to the Lord for victory. 

June 19.—Went to the St. Charles camp-meeting. 
Mrs. Updike told of her wonderful healing by faith, 
after the doctor had told her it was impossible she 
could ever be healed. Felt much liberty as we to- 
gether brought my beloved sister before the Lord. 

June 25,—All the sharp ruggedness of my nature 
not yet gone. O how humbled I am in the dust this 
day. Spoke so sharply to my beloved Sister H 
In the strength of the Lord I must ge this great 
failing. 

July 3.—Left for the Waverly camp-meeting. For 
the first two or three days it was a new field. Much 
drawn out in prayer for the conversion of sinners, and 
on the fourth day it began to be evident that the Lord 
was working in convicting power. Many told by their 
tearful eyes that their hearts were softened, and many 
were brought, we trust, to Jesus. O that they may 
prove faithful! And now I am going back to my 
home again, with many resolutions to walk more pef- 
fectly before my God. 

July 26.—Came to Rossville, to my _brother’s. 
Have had, at times since I have been here, great near- 
ness to the Lord, and great longing after complete and 
entire conformity to His image: How wonderfully 
narrow is the way where the..sunshine of God’s love’ 
fills the soul; what constant waiting and praying. My 
way has not been opened here for much work. There 
was no preacher at the church on Sabbath morning, 
but a good congregation, and while wondering what 
they would do, the Lord spoke to me: “Give ye them 
to eat,” bringing vividly to memory the scene of the 
five thousand, of the bread broken and given to them, 
through the disciples, and surely He gave me the 
bread to break to them that morning. How I need 
more gentle, tender love. Believe I could have done 











MR. CHARLES COOKE, 
(See:Pages 48, 58, 74, 308.) 








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PIOUS MEDITATIONS. 49 


much more good at this time, had I had it. My quick 
way of speaking prejudices people. Finney says: 
“Our lack of faith in receiving Jesus as our all, makes 
us lacking.” I believe it; we do not earnestly, believ- 
ingly look to Him to be our wisdom with every one 
with whom. we converse; thus we err and _ fail. 
“Never,” said the holy Bramwell, “ for one moment 
lose sight of God.” 

August 22.—Snoke last evening at Rossville 
church. No liberty. O, what a sounding brass and a 
tinkling cymbal without Thee! Spoke of the joy ofa 
close walk with God. Madam Guyon, in the Bastile, 
said: “If the soul is gloomy, it is because sin or unbe- 
lief is shutting out the sunshine of God’s love.” 

Am reading, with much pleasure, the life of Lady 
Maxwell, a friend and co-laborer with Mr. Wesley. 
She says, in her diary: “I heard a lecture from John 
1:18, under which the eyes of my faith were as clear as 
the shining of the sun at noonday. Jesus seemed to 
stand in the midst, and I knew Him as the Son of 
God, and as my Savior. Amazing mystery of redeem- 
ing love! Blessed Lord, let me sink deeper and 
deeper every day into the knowledge of it. O let me 
sink into all the depths of humble love and rise to all 
the heights of Christian confidence! Then, Lord, 
though but a worm, I shall bring glory to Thee, with- 
out (strange notion of some) derogating from Thy 
priestly office. O the various devices whereby Satan 
deceives the children of men; not only the wicked unto 


_ final destruction, but also the children of God, whereby 


they suffer much loss, and fall far short of that degree 
of glory they might have brought to Him!” 

_ Again she writes: “I find there is nothing so much 
tends to compose the mind and to keep it collected 
religiously as a constant sense of the presence of God. 
If at any time I am in danger of being unhinged, a 
look to God by faith sets all right immediately; all 
the affectionate powers of the soul are collected and 
fixed upon God_-as their proper centre; and a heavenly 


50 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


serenity ensues. May I be enabled every moment to 
lay as passive clay in the hands.of my God, and ‘have 
all the good pleasure of His will fulfilled in me. This 
is sufficient; but indeed my heart pants with strong 
desire to feel the utmost power of transforming grace.” 

August 26.—Read the account of Noah warned of 
God to prepare an ark—God’s way, ever that of 
warning. James McFarlan, who had not been in a 
church since a boy, and playing at billiards in his 
saloon, was warned of God; went home, but could not 
sleep till near morning; then dreamed he was to burn 
his cards and fiddle and read his Bible. He obeyed, 
and was soon a gloriously saved man. Will you heed 
God’s warning voice? Nothing so hardens the heart 
as continued warnings disregarded.. Often, in speaking 
in our jail, I have seen one head and another drop, and ~ 
the large tears fall from* éyes all unaccustomed to 
weep, as they have listened to the gospel. O whata 
little time, and you will have listened to the last warn- 
ing, the last invitation of a loving Savior! 

Napoleon the Great said: “I have plans enough 
for the lives of twenty emperors, but before I have 
executed two of them I shall die.” Yes, an exile on 
the island of St. Helena, saying while there: “I look 
upon life as the greatest of horrors. No tongue can 
tell what I have suffered the last twenty hours.” 
Without God and without hope in the world! I need 
more of the drawing, melting unction of the Holy 
Spirit. 

September 6.—I dreamed last night that I had an 
interview with Fletcher, and we talked of the purity of 
heart possible here. Awoke with such a feeling of 
sweet peace. He who so richly blessed Fletcher is 
my all-sufficient helper, able to supply all my-needs 
out of His riches in glory through Jesus Christ. It is 
said of Whitfield that so close was his communion 
with Jesus, that after his usual hour or more alone 
with God, before preaching, he came among the people 
as with a halo around his head, and his yearning for 








MY BROTHER'S CONSECRATION. 51 


souls was so great that he continually plead: ‘‘Give me 
souls, or take my soul.” He preached eighteen 
thousand sermons. Blessed Lord, raise up more such 
laborers in Thy vineyard! 

September 23.—Too much talk lately; profitless 
discussions not meet to minister grace, and, after hear- 
ing a dull sermon, spoke unadvisedly about it and 
other things. 

April 6, 1873.—Heard such good news from my 
brother James. He had received such a deep baptism 
of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had become to him an 
indwelling Savior, giving him victory, joy’ and peace. 
Had often felt if he could only come to America and 
hear preaching such as I had heard, he would get the 
blessing of holiness. 

EMBERTON, March 14, 1873. 

My Dear Sister: Your letter came to hand yes- 
terday. Mattie is away at Harborough, for work. 
The snow falls continually, and I seem led to sit down 
and write to you. Iam very pleased with your letter, 
and I truly do feel with you in all you say; especially 
about a heart wholly given to the Lord. I know you 
will rejoice when I tell you that I have lately passed 
into a state of sweet peace in Jesus. I feel His love in 
a sense | have never felt it before. I know you have 
been praying for me, and so has Mattie; (his wife.) I 
dare not say much to her about it, for if it does not 
show in fruit before her it is not worth much. Some 
few weeks since, in prayer, I told the Lord I would 


. give up all to Him, if He would accept and give me 


constantly help to be true to Him. I thought I had 
done so before, but the Lord knows if I ever really 


- did, for He searches the heart. A few hours after, a 


trembling came over me, and a voice seemed to say: 
“You are not your own; you have given yourself to 
the Lord.” It was a new idea. I felt neither lifted up 
nor very joyous, but rather feeble and helpless. I 
knew: if God did not constantly by His Spirit work 


within me, my heart was just as prone to wander, my 


52 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


resolutions just as little able to keep the flame of holy 
love to God steady and fixed, as ever. I had known 
something of effort, and of relapse into indifference to 
follow; the spirit of prayer flashing out and in, with no 
more regular power than the flashings of the will-of- 
the-wisp; but God, for Christ’s sake, took pay. and 
sent help from above. 

Peace, like a river, flowed through my soul. In. 
the three or four days that followed, God gave me 
several tokens of His presence. 

Words ordinary, spoken to those I visited, were 
followed by tears and signs of awakening. This is of 
God, I thought; it cannot be me; these tears, these 
responses-—this arrow in the heart must be shot from 
God’s bow. He simply uses these words as the mere 
vehicle to convey them. 

God’s Word I see now with different eyes. 
Truths that were sealed are now made plain. I never 
understood, before, the 6th of Romans, nor how the 
Ist verse of the 12th chapter could be made practical. 
The 15th of John was a favorite, but it was full of 
mystery and difficulty. I got more sadness than glad- 
ness out of it. I would ask, ‘how can I abide in 
Christ, to realize what our Savior promises?” O what 
a fullness does this open to the child of God. It must 
be heaven begun below to take what Jesus gives in 
this chapter. The terms are too hard for flesh and | 
blood, but with Him all things are possible. Let me 
listen to the terms again; blessed Jesus, Thou must 
help me moment by moment to abide in Thee; utter 
failure marks all other efforts. The past is full of 
lamentable break-downs, wrecks crowd upon its pages; 
let the dead past be buried, and Christ and I strike a 
new bargain. Tears dim my eyes as I think of His 
patience and long-suffering. He only knows what a 
miserable past ‘of sin, and service but little better, it 
has been. This draws me closer to Him, and to Him 
must all the glory be ascribed. He has shown me my 
folly and weakness; but the light to show it up was 









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DEVOTED TO THE LORD. 53 


lighted at the altar of love. He dealt with me as He 
told His disciples to do, in Luke 17:4. Now His love 
beams on me. What can I do for such a Savior? 
Nothing but let Him do just what He likes with me; 
to lay in His arms and die at once, or to work in His 
vineyard—just as He pleases. I am so sick of having 
no power over myself that I would rather go straight 
into the grave than back into that state again. 

My only hope is Jesus, first, midst, last of all, 
everything! 

With much love to you; and may every blessing 
be yours. 

Your affectionate brother, 
JAMEs Bass. 


CHARTER VI. 


Jury 12.Very happy in God; my soul is abiding 
under the shadow of His wing. With Madam Guyon 
I can say, 


‘My sole possession is Thy love; 
On earth below or heaven above, 
I have no other store. And tho’ I pray 
And importune Thee night and day, 
I ask for nothing more.” 


I knelt with dear Carrie on the very spot where 
we have so often knelt with our beloved Brother 
Moody. O Lord of the harvest, send forth more such 
laborers into Thy vineyard! ; 

~ August.—A time of much spiritual conflict; partly, 
I think, from uncertainty about whether I should 
return to England. Have been so fearful lest I should 


make a mistake. Have been at my brother Henry’s 


three weeks, and have not pushed out into the Lord’s 
work as I might have done. The joy of the Lord very 
much depends on a full consecration of. all our 


54 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


redeemed powers to His glory and service—‘‘as we — 
have opportunity of doing good to all men.” The 
highest good on earth is to labor for the salvation 
of souls. 





About this time I received a letter from my dear 
mother, urging me to come home for a time, and offer- 
ing to send.a draft to pay all my expenses. I again 
laid it before the Lord. Much as I would have loved 
to see my kindred and native land, much more | 
desired to know and do the will of my God. I remem- 
ber, one day especially, being so impressed to pray to 
the Lord about it that I left the street, and, going up 
into Farwell Hall, there poured out my full heart to 
God; telling Him that if the lifting of my hand would 
decide whether I should go or stay, I would not lift it 
up. Two weeks passed, and no clear light had come; 
when, one Saturday night, bowed in prayer with my 
beloved friends, Brother and Sister Jones, we together 
laid it before the Lord. As I prayed (helped by the 
Spirit), I pleaded for light before the sun should set 
on the morrow. The Sabbath dawned, and through 
the day my heart would be lifted for light and guid- 
ance. It wasa day of conflict, and in the afternoon 
these words came: ‘Except ye see signs and wonders" 
ye will not believe.” I did not understand, only that 
I must look up and believe for guidance. Walking 
with my brother-in-law, to hold.an out-door service, I 
noticed that the sun was within about twenty minutes 
of setting. The prayer of the night before came back 
again,-and there came such a quiet hush on my soul, 
while these words were given to me: “And the Lord 
said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, .and 
from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, into a ~ 
land that I will show thee, and I will bless thee.” “Is 
that it, Lord?” my wondering soul replied; when the 
words were again repeated, “And I will bless thee!” 
spoken in a deeper and more emphatic tone. How my 
soul exulted in the Lord; no shadow rested on my path; 










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A NEW FIELD FOR MISSION WORK. 55 


all was as clear as the light at noonday. I wrote to my 
dear mother, explaining it all to her. 

No thought had come to me of the land “the Lord 
would show me” being any other than Chicago and its 
neighborhood; but it was farther away, I found. One 
day, sitting alone after the noonday meeting in Far- 
well Hall, a stranger accosted me, telling me that a 
lady (Miss Smith) had requested him to ask me if I 
could go to a village in Indiana to help establish a 
Sunday-school. It was a very wicked place, and the 
day-school teacher was trying to hold a Sunday-school 
amidst much opposition. I felt it was of the Lord, 
and agreed to go. The Lord had laid this work greatly 
on the heart of Miss Louisa Smith, a teacher in one of 
the public schools of Chicago, and surely no more 
neglected neighborhood could have been found. Mrs. 
Pike was the teacher at Hessville. When we held that 
first Sabbath-school, the parents as well as the children 
came, and we held a meeting with them which was full 
of interest; and an earnest invitation was extended to 
us to come again. I reported the opening for work to 
our Mission Band, who took right hold of it, and in a 
little while arrangements were made to hold a three- 
days’ tent-meeting at Hessville. We started, about 
ten of us, from Chicago with our own tent and pro- 
visions, little knowing the glory of the work which 
should follow this exodus from Chicago. On our way, 
arriving at Lake, and having a little time to spare, we 
went into the village and held a meeting. Thenona 
hand-car we moved on to Ross, where there stood 
many waiting for us, who afterward became “our joy 
and crown of rejoicing” in the Lord. 

Sabbath morning, the first day of the meeting, 
dawned, and the people, drawn by the novelty of such 
a meeting, gathered in large numbers. One of the first 
speakers was brother Gittins. I can see his radiant 
face now, and his white locks waving as he spoke, under 


‘the influence of the Spirit, of the holiness of God’s law, 


the transcript for all ages of His holy will concerning 


56 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


us; and one after another he would hold up these ten 
commandments to the people, and ask who gave them 
any right to break these laws of God. “Is not My 
Word a hammer? saith the Lord.” O yes—breaking 
the stony heart, arrows of conviction began to pierce 
many hearts, and some who came from curiosity went 
home with Cowper’s experience: 


‘“T was a stricken deer that left the herd, 
With many a wound inflicted: 
Till I was met by One who had himself 
Been wounded by the archer. 
With gentle care He withdrew the dart, 
And healed and bade me live.” 


The three days passed, and the work had but com- 
menced. The weather was very showery, and the 
people opened their homes, and we held meetings 
from house to house; everywhere signs and wonders 
‘followed. For two weeks we held on there; then the 
_ Macedonian cry, “‘come over and help us,” came from 
Ross. ‘When He putteth forth His own sheep, He 
goeth before them.” There He had prepared our way; 
hearts and homes were all opened to receive us. From 
the very commencement the Lord worked with power 
on the hearts of the people. Spiritualists, infidels, the 
careless and worldly, were moved on, and, as in the 
days of John the Baptist, ‘‘ confessed their sins,” 


‘‘ And sank beneath the purple flood, 
To rise to all the life of God.” 


We visited very much among the people at their 
homes, and greatly the Lord used this in preparing and 
helping in the public services.. No words could more 
exactly describe that glorious work at Ross and Mer- 
rillville than those of the early believers:. “ And they 
continued daily with one accord in the temple, and— 
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat 
with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and 
having favor with the people. And the Lord added to 
the church daily such as should be saved.” Andas 











AN EARNEST SEEKER SAVED. 57 


our every want, from day to day, would be supplied, 
His own words to His first disciples were fulfilled: 
‘““When I sent you forth without purse or scrip lacked 
ye anything? and they said, Nothing.” Every need was 
supplied. We were out on the old apostolic line. One 
old man, gloriously saved at Hobart, would always 
call the brethren ‘‘ those modern apostles.” 

O what is every earthly honor, every other object 
in this world, compared to that of winning souls? All 


other work sinks into utter insignificance before it. 


Popularity, learning, accomplishments, position in life 
—all, as nothing. How shall I win souls? 

For a little while before being called out into this 
work in Indiana, I would never step out of my home 
on a Starlight night but the first thought would be: 
“They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as 
the stars forever and ever;” and the Savior’s ‘Go ye 
into all the world and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture;’’ and then the all-inspiring promise: ‘‘ Lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” One 
day, visiting from house to house by the wayside, 


_ we came to avery nice home, with a beautiful flower- 


garden in front. We went in, and soon the lady of the 
house came into the room and we began to talk to her 
of the way of salvation. We found her very ignorant 
of these things. After a while we asked if we could 
pray with her? “We could, if we wished,” she said; 
and when, after a time of bringing her case before the 
Lord, we arose from our knees, her eyes swimming 
with tears, she said: ‘I should like to have it if there 


‘is anything in it.” That night she followed us to our 
meeting, and the Lord began to work powerfully on 
- her heart; the great depths were broken. 


After two or three nights she bowed as a seeker at 
the penitent form; the work was quickly done, and 
riding to her home that night the light in her soul 
seemed to shine all around her. She said: ‘I was 
afraid to go to sleep, for fear I would lose it.” 

Years after, when passing-that very spot, riding 


. 
. 


58 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


~ 


with her and her husband, she said: ‘Alfred, I want 
to get out here.” ‘Can I go with you?” I asked, for I 
guessed where she was going. After carefully looking 
around, she said: ‘ This is the place;” and there, kneel- 
ing down, with fervent love she poured out her heart 
to that Savior who, six years before that day, had 
saved and had since kept her from falling. Her hus- 
band and son had both been converted and were walk- 
ing with her in the way of life. 


Our usual way of conducting services has always 
seemed to meas the Lord taught us, and greatly blessed. 
Mr. Hanmer, who was always with the band, or Mr. 
Charles Cooke, who would be with us from Saturday 
to Monday or Tuesday, would lead by giving out a 
hymna, and, after singing, say: ‘Let us pray;” no one. 
was Called on, but generally three or four poured out 
their hearts before God for His presence and blessing 
on the service; then whoever felt led of the Spirit 
would read,.the Scriptures, often explaining as the Spirit 
gave light. After this, the meeting was thrown open 
for any to witness for Jesus and tell their experiences; 
then came earnest, pointed addresses, and an after- 
service invariably followed. 


Oh, how sinners would flock to the altar! We 
called ourselves the Mission Band; but all over the 
country the people called us ‘“‘ The Praying Band.” We 
had no confidence in ourselves; how we all felt our con- 
tinued need of help. It was our usual custom to come 
together some time before the evening service for 
united prayer, and our hearts would be all melted and 
filled before we met in the public service; and as we 
visited the people, praying, if possible, in every home 
and in the wagons and buggies as we rode along, each 
one also sought to be much alone with God. 


DR. ADAM CLARKE ON PRAYER. 


How on this line our Lord taught us! Dr. Adam 
Clarke, writing on, ‘‘And He withdrew himself into the 
_ wilderness and prayed,” says: ‘He frequently with- 
































SPIRITUAL GIANTS. 59 


drew Himself to the wilderness. This I believe to 
be the import of the original. He made it a frequent 
custom to withdraw from the multitude for a time, to 
pray; teaching hereby the ministers of the gospel that 
_ they are to receive fresh supplies of light and power 
_ from God by prayer, that they may be more successful 
__ in their work. A man can give nothing unless he has 
_ ___ first received it; and no one can be successful in the 
_ ministry who does not constantly depend upon God; 
__ for the excellency of power is all from Him. Why is 
_ there'so little done? Because the preachers mix too 
much with the world; keep too long with the crowd, 
and are so seldom in private with God. Art thoua 
herald for the Lord of hosts? Make full proof of thy 
- ministry! Let it never be said of thee, He forsook all 
to follow Christ and to preach the gospel, but there 
_ was little or no fruit of his labor, for he ceased to be a 
“man of prayer, and got into the spirit of the world. 
- Alas! alas! Is this luminous star, that was once held 
- in the right hand of Jesus, fallen from the firmament of 
heaven to earth?” 


“There were giants in those days,” and what “ foot- 
prints they have left in the sands of time.” Dr. Clarke, 
_ when himself past the days of manhood, strength and 
vigor, in writing to a young preacher who was out in 
__ the mission work, said: “O Sammy, how highly God 
has favored you in employing you in this work! How 
glad I should be tobe your companion. When I could 
_ be, I was a missionary, and many hardships have I suf- 
_. fered, and I feel the same spirit still.- Chasms and 
bogs, and men and devils would be nothing to me. I 
have met all such in the name of Jesus, and have sut- 
fered and have conquered. Were God to restore me to 
“youth again, I would glory to be your companion; to 
_ go through all—to lie on the ground, herd with the 
oxen, or lie down on a bale of straw. Where duty 1s 
_ concerned, wind, waves and hyperborean regions are 
nothing tome. I can eat the meanest things—I can 
ine heartily on a few potatoes and some salt.” How 


60 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. As 


the holy men of old knew how to “ endure hardness as 
good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” The luxury and love 
of ease in the present day eats out most of the life and 
power from the ministry. Speaking of dress, he says: 
‘TI can wear a sack, if necessary, for fine clothes I never 
affected;” and his father, as he loved to call the great 
founder of Methodism—the holy Wesley—wrote: “I 
could as soon steal as wear a fine broadcloth coat.” 

A mother had been saved during the meeting at 
Ross, and with her children would be constantly in the 
meetings; but her eldest boy was away working for a 
farmer. ‘‘Would we go with her:to see him?” The 
morning came, and we started. The farm was some 
five miles away; and when we reached there the boy 
was in the field at work, but was sent for. Then the 
mother poured out her full heart: ‘‘ You. must come 
right home and get converted,” telling of the blessing 
that had come to her own heart, and to others. ‘It is 
no use for you to talk, mother; I cannot come home; 
we are just in the midst of harvest,” said the boy. But 
her importunity and faith carried everything before her, 
and the promise was given that he would come on the 
Friday evening. He came, and was blessedly saved. . 

On our way back, led by the hand of our God, we 
called at the home of Mr. Morgan, at Merrillville. We 
were kindly welcomed and stayed to dinner. Though 
strangers, we soon felt quite at home. Referring after- 


ward to this first visit, he said: ‘I felt as though a’ 


thrill of life went through our home the first time you 
came into it.” On his heart the Lord laid it to pur- 
chase atent. (Hitherto our meetings had been held 
under the open heavens.) In every way he and his 
wife were our warm friends and helpers in this glorious 
work of the Lord. 

Every year some of our fellow-laborers are passing 
away. At Ross lately, died Mrs. Amos Homer, who was 
the first to take us to her home, whose heart and hands 
were always enlisted for the followers of Jesus; and 
Mrs. Hayward, one of the first trophies there of rdeeme- 


DIVINE HEALING. 61 



























ing grace, and ever full of tender hospitality and kind- 
ness, and, with her husband, a succorer of many. 


“And yet once more I trust to have 
Full sight of them in heaven.” 


One morning, as two of our band, Mr. Richard 
Martin and myself, were walking on the highway, vis- 
iting from house to house, we entered a home of sor- 
row. The man was weak and unable to work; the wife 
with a little child in her arms. He seemed utterly de- 
jected and hopeless. The bright summer months had 
nearly passed away, and he had not been able to do 
one day’s work. As we knelt in prayer, the Lord drew 
near, enabling us to bring his case right to Him; while 
the memory of His wonderful power .to heal, in the 
days of His flesh, of His all-power in heaven and in 
earth, encouraged our faith. We left; but in two or 
three days, in one of our meetings, with joyful voice, 
he told how the Lord had healed him, and he had done 
his first day’s work. Glory to our God! Well might 
the angels sing, on the Bethlehem plains, when they 
heralded His birth: ‘‘ Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace and good will to men.” 


CHAPTER: VH. 


THE GENTLE REBUKE OF LOVE. 
-~ Our band had just commenced work at Wheeler, 
Porter County, Indiana, when they were all impressed 
that they would be helped and refreshed by going to 
- the St. Charles camp-meeting. So hallowed were the 
associations and rich the blessings received there, that 
no place on earth seemed so sacred, and no desire so 
strong as to be with this gathering of God’s people. In 
bringing it in prayer to the Lord, for guidance for my- 
-self, I was shown that I was not to go, Saat to stay right 
_ there, and go on with the meeting —only one dear con- 


eh “2 gh See ee aia 


Se 


62 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


vert remaining, Bro. W. M. Kelsey. We seemed such a 
little band, and every day he would inquire: ““ Who will 
be here to help us‘to-day?” with the unvarying answer: 
“T don’t know; but God will be here with us.” And 
He was, and souls were daily saved. 

As soon as the decision was made, how I pleaded 
that I might not suffer loss, but that the blessing should 
be as full’ and rich at Wheeler as at the St. Charles 
meeting; and I felt the assurance eves that it should 
be so. 

The days passed on until Wednesdes the last day 
of the camp-meeting, and I had had no especial mani- 
festation of God’s love and presence in my heart—none 
of the deep, emotional, overflowing joy so often experi- 
enced on the camp-ground. In the afternoon we were 
at a farm-house, where we had been invited to stay for 
supper. I went out alone to a little grove, a short way 
from the house, to plead for the expected blessing, but 
the prayer seemed to have no wings and to bring back 
no answer. After a time, thinking the friends might be 
waiting for me, I returned to the house, but I came 
back again, and again pleaded with the Lord. Then 
came a silent hush over my spirit; the Lord was there 
speaking with me, saying: ‘‘And have I not blessed 
you; is it a little thing that I have used you in the con- 
version of immortal souls?” How humbled to the dust 
I felt before.Him. The rebuke was so tender, so lov- 
ing as never to be forgotten. What is any blessing on 
earth to be compared to this?—this saving of souls? 
How melted I felt before Him! 

It would take a more able pen than mine to give 
any adequate description of that glorious work in In- 
diana. For five summers we journeyed on from place 
_ to place; but I can only give an incident here and 
there. 

To Knox, Stark County, the Brethren Hanmer, 
Andrews, and Martin, had gone on with the tent. The 
people had no sympathy or interest in them; not enough 
to lend a wheelbarrow or wagon. They toiled on under 


» 4 


te 















~ WORK OF THE SPIRIT AT KNOX. 63 


every discouragement, raising the tabernacle and com- 
mencing meetings. In two or three days Mrs. Jones* 
and I followed. Oh, the sweet waftings of the Spirit 
in that ride of eleven miles in the rain! Shall I ever 
forget? Stanzas from an old hymn would vibrate as 
sweetest strains of music all along the way: 
“More happy, but not more secure, 
Are the glorified spirits above.” 

As we alighted and looked over the village, Mrs. 
Jones lifted up her hands and said: “Al Knox for Jesus! 
All Knox for Jesus! !” 

Soon the work began, the promised Spirit moving 


on hearts, “reproving of sin, of righteousness and of 


judgment.” What a slight hold the Word takes on any 
heart until the Spirit has gone before, breaking up the 
fallow ground. One morning there came into the 
tabernacle an elderly lady, (herself a Christian) with 
two married daughters. She whispered to me to have 
no one come and talk to them, as they might be 
offended and not come again. It was our usual custom 
to move out among the congregation at the close of 
every service, to talk with the convicted and awak- 
ened. We that morning avoided speaking to that 
little group. The meeting closed, and the workers 
had all gathered together, when I noticed one of the 


‘daughters staying. I can see those wistful-looking eyes 


yet. She had lingered, deeply convicted of sin; and 
was waiting for some one to lead her to ‘the Lamb of 
God who taketh away the sin of the world.” Before 


_ the meeting closed her joyful testimony was: “I have 


had more real happiness the last five days than in all 
my life before.” 

The work moved on. The young, the old, the 
rich, the poor, bowed to the all-conquering power of 


5 Jesus. In their homes and in the public meetings the 
_work moved on—the Spirit mightily striving, the 
Savior gloriously saving. Co-laborers with the Lord 


*This dear sister was Mrs. Hawxhurst, happily married to Bro. Wm. 


Jones, of our band, in 1872. 


64 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


we find the work that is most successful—that which 
proclaims, first, a free salvation, making men desire it; 


then the terms, genuine repentance, “teaching men ~ 


everywhere to repent,” preparing the way for saving 


faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘bringing forth fruits 


meet for repentance!” 

One day a man said to Brother Charles: “I have 
followed your meetings all summer, and I have kept a 
team of horses doing nothing but coming to your 
meetings, and while so many have been converted, I 
am not saved,” speaking as though this great salvation 
could not be for him. What was the reason? They 
knelt together in prayer, and as they talked the diffi- 
culty was unraveled. A neighbor had done him a 
great wrong, and he could not forgive him. “As we 
forgive them that trespass against us,” was urged, with 
the impossibility of being forgiven on any other 
terms. When he realized this, the victory was gained. 
He was saved and filled with joy divine. 

Felix, who trembled while Paul reasoned “of 
righteousness, temperance and judgment,” might have 
passed right through the strait gate into the narrow 
way, but for his insatiate love of money and power. 
All would take the prize, if it did not involve the 
cross—the self-denial—the forsaking all to follow 
Jesus. With so many there is unutterable shrinking 
as the way is unfolded. 

How many get where the gifted poetess’ lines are 
the experience of their hearts? 


‘Thou and the world must _ part, 
However hard it be; 
My trembling spirit owns ’tis just, 
But clings more closely to the dust.” 

And to those who have entered the narrow way 
the order is: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold 
on eternal life.” 

“The battle ne’er give o’er, . 


Renew it boldly every day, 
And strength divine implore. 





MRS. HARRIET COON 


ee Cae 





REV. GEORGE WHITFIELD. 


(See Pazes 123, 126 ) 





MY HUSBAND CALLED TO ENGLAND. 65 


Ne’er think the victory won, 
Nor lay thine armor down; 

The work of faith will not be done 
Till thou obtain the crown.” 


And yet we may be, all along the line, ‘“‘ more than 
conquerors through Him who hath loved us, and hath 
given Himself for us.” But what vigilance, what 
unswerving fidelity, there must be on our part! “If ye 
keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, 
even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and 
abide in His love.” The experience of holiness is 
kept by a faith whose very existence depends on 
watchfulness unto prayer. 

“He shall guide you continually.” The way had 
been wonderfully opened of the Lord for me to go out 
to Indiana. Husband had gone to New York on 
business, and while there heard of the severe illness of 
his mother; she was quite aged, and not likely to 
recover. 

I copy from my journal: 

December 3, 1875—-A letter from my dear hus- 
band, now in New York. He has heard of his 
mother’s severe sickness, and feels drawn to go and 
visit her. He wants me to decide about his going. I 
pleaded with the Lord; laid the whole matter before 
Him; that I might have light as to whether he should 
go. An unswerving peace comes, leaving no doubt 
about it. The Lord heard and answered my prayer. 
I wrote, advising him to go, and afterwards had such a 
day of calm, sweet peace. 

For two years and a half he was detained in Eng- 
land, while, most of the time, I was in Indiana in this 
glorious work. Our God sets before us the open door, 


-and adjusts-the circumstances for us. Madam Guyon 


said: “I nourish myself on the daily providences of 
God, ”? 
‘‘ While place we seek, or place we shun, 
The soul finds happiness in none; 


66 3 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


But with a God to guide our way, 
"Tis equal joy to go or stay.” 


December 22.Much impressed to-day by these 
remarks of Rev. James Caughey: ‘‘O my soul, be much 
in doxologies! In order to this let me hold fast to 
contentment. A contented mind may be likened toa 
ship, which, though tossed among the waves, is buoy- 
ant and unharmed. Discontent is like a leak; it sinks 
the ship (the poor heart,) till all the waves go over it, 
and it goes down into the abyss of misery.” 


I once had the privilege of hearing this mighty _ 
man of God. He was holding revival services in Not- 
tingham, England. I had read his ‘Revival Miscel- 
lany,” and “ Earnest Christianity,’ and had longed to 
see his face, and hear his voice. It was a treat indeed. 
It seemed to me as though one of the old prophets had 
come back to earth. I remember one night, especially. 
The large church was crowded up to the very steps of 
the pulpit. Mr. Caughey had taken for his. text: 
“Warn them from me;” “This year thou shalt die.” 
‘“How can ye escape the damnation of hell?” He told 
us how much of that afternoon had been spent on his 
face before God. Every now and then, lifting up 
himself, he would say: ‘Warn them from me;” “I am 
doing it my Lord;” and oh, such volleys of warnings it 
seemed I had never heard from mortal lips; while, all 
breathless, that large congregation seemed riveted and 
spellbound. A harvest of souls was gathered, every- 
where he went, for the garner of the Lord. 


Once in his journal: he wrote like this (1 write from 
memory): “IJ had a hard time last night. My words 
seemed like snow-flakes falling on the water, making 
no impression, or, like stones against a wall, bounding. 
back again; but I know the reason and will profit by it. 
_-Oh, these fireside sociabilities—all well in their place, 
but not the thing for a man who is just going to stand 
betwixt ‘the living and the dead.’ I must get nearer - 
Calvary and Gethsemane, alone with God.” my a 








AN INSPIRED MINISTRY. 67 


Once, in Cambridge, in the large church where 
Charles Simeon preached, moving all that communi- 
ty of clerical learning by the mighty Holy Ghost power 
that rested on him, Caughey stood in the pulpit, and 
seemed to see, in imagination, that sea of upturned 
faces, and to hear the voice that thrilled their very 
souls. He says, on descending the pulpit stairs, it 
seemed as though a Presence met him, and a voice 
spoke, telling him ‘zo do all he couid now in lis day to 
save souls.” Might it not have been one of those 
“ministering spirits” sent forth on this errand, or the 
spirit of Simeon come to cheer, with this message, a 
fellow-servant of the Lord in his arduous work? For 
many years almost entirely laid aside from active 
service, how his thoughts must recur to those days of 
victory, when so much of “the spoil was taken from 
the hand of the mighty!” 

Like the holy Edward Payson, his usual way of 
_studying the Bible was on his knees, pleading, as he 
read it, for heavenly light; and so was he thoroughly 
furnished for every good word and work. The last we 
hear of him, his trembling form was seen in a meeting 
of the Salvation Army in New Brunswick, speaking 
words of holy cheer to speed them in their work; tell- 
ing how he had watched this movement from the com- 
mencement, and knew it was of God. 

While every child of God will have his sree es 
for the church where he has cast in his lot, if he is 
walking in the light of God he will discern the work of 
God, and rejoice to see His kingdom advanced in any 
way by any instrumentality. Sectarian bigotry is not 
of God. 

Visiting in the country, from house to house, one 
day, I found a young lady. Consumption had so 
> evidently marked her that her days were numbered. 
At first all attempts to reach her seemed fruitless. 
She rejected the one light, the one guide—the Word 
of God. Will you read it? I pleaded with her; and I 
think it was on the second visit that she consented. 


baa 55 e& Ss oS 78 a ' oe ee ad 


68 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 2% 
And will you read it, I asked, as you would read any 
other book—to criticize and judge, or in lowly humil- | 
ity, willing to be taught? She was herself a teacher, 
and it was so hard to take the place of a little child 
and be taught. Every visit found her more pliable; 
the great depths of her heart were breaking up. One 
night she awoke in darkness, her lamp having gone 
out. The Lord spoke to her then through the parable 
of the ten virgins, and, humbling herself under His 
mighty hand, peace came into her soul like a river. 
Jesus filled her soul with His own light, and poured in 
the oil of gladness. With soul and body both healed, - 
she came to the tent in a few nights to tell of His 
power to save. ie 

One Sabbath morning a stranger arose in one of 
of our meetings to testify. She was very plainly 
dressed, and had heaven’s own light in her counte- 
nance. She said: ‘‘My home and its cares—I had two 
children—were about taking all my time and thoughts, ~ 
and IJ was scarcely doing anything to bring sinners to 
Jesus, when one night the Lord gave me a vision. I 
saw the gate of heaven. It was shut. The Lord, with 
all His glorious company of the redeemed, had passed 
in; and without the gates, O what a countless multi- 
tude—hateful and hating one another; none to redress, 
none’ to help, none to pity. Their day of mercy had — 
passed forever.” Her husband told her, for she had 
no idea of time, she might have been half an hour 
gazing on that wonderful scene; then the lesson was 
taught: If the outside of heaven will be so awful, you 
had better do all you can to get your neighbors saved. 
From that hour all indifference was gone. The 
schoolhouse near their home was opened for Sabbath- 
school, and preaching whenever she could get it. The 
sick were visited, and in every way she could she ~ 
worked for the conversion of sinners. 

We had pitched our tent at Wood’s Mill, a Uni- 
versalist settlement, believing that the Lord had gone : 
before, It was toward evening and no one had ~— 





THE LORD DOES PROVIDE. 69 


invited us to their home. “Where are we going?” 
asked one and another. He who had called us knew 
our needs, and this dear sister, living a few miles 


~ away, took us all to her home. Many years ago her 


pure spirit passed into the presence of that Savior she 
so loved, but the memory of Ruth Harper is still 
precious to us. ‘The memory of the just is blessed.” 

We went out on the old apostolic line, and our 
Lord had promised to supply all our needs. ‘When I 
sent you out,’ He said to His first disciples, ‘lacked 
ye anything? and they said, Nothing.” Eighteen hun- 


~-dred years had made no difference in that heart of 


watchful, tender love, He supplying all our needs. 
I only remember once, in those five years of tent-work, 
having to ask for anything. Coming in from an after- 
noon of visiting, and being somewhat tired and thirsty, 
I felt a longing for a cup of tea. I went into two 
cottages near the tent, but neither of them had tea; I 
had not learned that this was not a need, and so the 
promise did not cover it. Praise the Lord, His prom- 
ises are “yea and amen in Christ Jesus!” 

At one place where we were laboring, we were 
much drawn out to speak of the importance of family 
worship; its blessedness and its importance. Whata 
trait in the life of Abraham—that life of wandering— 
and everywhere he moved, there he built an altar to 


the Lord. God knows us all. He said: “I know my 


servant Abraham, that he will command his servants 
and his children after him.” When we read that life 
of whole-hearted consecration, then we know how he 
earned the high and glorious title, “Father of the 
faithful, and friend of God.” ; 
“Will you go home with me some night?” asked a 
friend; ‘‘I want you to begin our family worship.” I 
went home with them that night, and we bowed in 
prayer together. In the morning, after praying, I 


‘asked the husband, and then the wife to pray, and the 


Spirit came down. The sacrifice was accepted, and in 
those hearts there came a fullness of joy they had 


70 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


never before felt. A day or two after, at our morning 
meeting, both testified to the fullness of the blessing 
that had come into their home. I had said that a 


home without a family altar was like a house without a. 


roof; and she said: ‘“‘We have a roof on our house 
now.” They had just removed from their old home, 
and her heart was dreary and lonely; now Jesus had 
come in and filled all the dreary void. Mr. Briggs, 
her husband, said; ‘ My wife has never been satisfied 
with her home; but it is all right now.’ 

While we were holding meetings-at Une Center, 
a Scotch woman, who lived near our tent, formed a 
great prejudice against us, and refused to let her chil- 
dren come to the meetings. We were “not of the 
Presbyterian order.” One day, out in her garden, 
there came to her, wafted on the breeze, the voice of 


earnest, believing prayer, and the Lord used it to - 


break down her prejudice, convincing her that we 
were His own people. One night her children slipped 
away and came to our meeting. Telling her of what 
they had seen and heard, she came also, got under 
great conviction, and saw that she was unsaved. One 
_ night the Lord spoke to her by a vision. She saw 
the land of Judea; on a solitary mound stood a man 
alone. It was “‘the man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief.” The scene changed and a large cross 
stood on that mound, and there, on that cross extend- 
ed, was the world’s Redeemer, “the Lamb of Cal- 
vary.” From His wounds the blood was flowing, and 
to her He ‘spoke—‘tall this for thee.” The ¥gseas 
depths of her heart were broken up, and Jesus spoke 
His own unutterable peace to her soul. 

At Hobart, Indiana, the Lord wonderfully owed 
and blessed the labors of our Mission Band. At this 
place lived the father of the Rev. L. B. Kent, of the 
Western Holiness Association. He was quite aged, 
‘and only just able to get to our tent. With his coun- 
tenance lighted up by the radiance from heaven, and 
with his feeble, trembling voice, he would tell of the 


CONVERSION OF A BACKSLIDER. 71 


joys of God’s salvation till it would seem as though, 
like another Enoch, he might be wafted up to that 
home of glory without dying; there was so little of 
earth and so much of heaven about him. 

A Mr. Lightener, who had once preached the gos- 
pel, but who had backslidden from God, watched the 
putting up of the tabernacle, and wondered who those 
people could be, and whether they were really God’s 
children. He came to our meeting, “knew the joyful 
sound,” and soon returned to the fold again. In one 
family who had so kindly welcomed us to their home, 
was a dear daughter, whose husband was unsaved. 
How the members of our band would urge him to 
come to Jesus. But the same excuse, from the days of 
Felix until now, under which the unyielding heart ever 
hides, “go thy way for this time,’ “not now,” etc., 
was his excuse, though convicted and alarmed. The 
meeting had been announced to close with that week. 
One day, while very busy with his farm-work, the 
voice of the Lord spoke to him: “If you don’t get con- 
verted now, you never will.” The voice so startled 
him that he made his way to the house to tell his wife 
what had happened. ‘Go forward to-night,” she said 
to him; and he came. Long we knelt and pleaded for 
him, but deliverance did not come then. But before 
the morning light dawned he was a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. The next summer, in reaping, his reaper 
struck a rock and he had to take it two miles toa 
blacksmith for repairs; and as he went, his heart and 
voice were lifted up in praise to God. He said: 
“What a change has come over me; if this had hap- 
pened last summer, I should have cursed and sworn 
all the way:” 


“New songs did now his lips employ, 
And dance did his glad heart for joy.” 


A little band of holy ones still hold the fort at 
Hobart. Bro. David Andrews, who was at one time 
their pastor, and also a member of our Mission Band, 


_ 72 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


passed from the church militant to the church trium- 
phant last year. One and another of our loved band 
are passing over; O what greetings in that land of light 
and love! 


“There the crystalline stream, 
Bursting forth from the throne, 
Flows on, and forever will flow. 
Its waves as they roll 
Are with melody rife; » 
And its waters are sparkling 
With beauty and life, 
In that land which no mortal may know.” 


The last time we ever met the Rev. B. T. Roberts, 
was at a conference at Knox. He said: “I have been 
reading lately the book of the Acts of the Apostles, in 
the original, as well as in our own language. I never 
was so entranced with a book in all my life. There is 
the pattern for the church in all time.” He spoke of 
the danger of following other patterns instead of the 
pattern church given us in the Word of God—wise 
beyond what was written, going beyond, or not coming 
up to its teachings—as the rock on which any church 
will split, going into formalism or fanaticism. 

“Were I,” said Phcebe Palmer, of sainted mem- 
ory, “to live to be as old as Methuselah, and to be 
brought into the most perplexing circumstances any 
one could be brought into, I should ever find the light 
and guidance I need in the Bible.” To the latest 
ages may the inspired words of Pollok, in his ‘Course 
of Time,” be heard: 


The Bible.—‘‘ Hast thou ever heard 

Of such a book? The author God himself; 

The subject God and man, salvation, life, 

And death—eternal life, eternal death. 

Dread words! whose meaning has no end, no bounds; 
Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord! 

Star of eternity! the only star 

By which the bark of man could navigate 

The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 


‘ 





es 


WORK OF THE MISSION BAND. 73 


Securely. The only star which rose on time, 


' And on its dark and troubled waters still, 


As generation, drifting swiftly by, 
Succeeded generation, threw a ray 
Of heaven’s own light, and to the hills of God, 


‘The eternal hills, pointed the sinner’s eye. 


The prophets, seers, priests and sacred bards, 
Evangelists, apostles, men inspired, 

And by the Holy Ghost anointed, set 

Apart and consecrated to declare 

To earth the counsels of the Eternal One, 
This book, this holiest, this sublimest book, 
Was sent.” 


CHAPTER VIIT: 


A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF A REMARKABLE WORK OF GOD. 


CONCERNING the Mission Band, and the work of 
God in connection with its labors, Bro. Wm. Hanmer, 
usually the leader in its field-work, furnishes the 
following account: 

In the year 1871, or about that time, a number of 


Christian workers (members of the different evangel- 


ical churches), ‘“‘whose hearts God had touched” with 
love for the lost of earth, and with a burning zeal and 
missionary fire to spread the glorious truths of a pres- 
ent free and full salvation, were providentially brought 
together in Chicago, Illinois. They soon found that 
they were possessed of like precious faith, and that 
their hearts were each alike pulsating and burning 


‘with anxious desire to carry salvation to the masses. 


Meetings for prayer and Christian counsel were ap- 
pointed and held, and steps were soon taken looking 
towards aggressive evangelism. After meeting to- 
gether a number of times for prayer and counsel, we 
decided, in the fear of God, and, as we believed, “with 
an eye single to His glory,” to form ourselves into a 
band, to be known as the Mission Band. The aim and 


ee eee 


74° WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


object of the band was defined and published, anda  _ 
number of rules and regulations decided upon for its 
government. A few- simple and practical rules were 
all that was needed forits government. In fact, all our 
proceedings and services were characterized by a spirit 
of simplicity that was near akin to that which charac- 
terized the early disciples; and a devotion and conse- 
cration to the work of rescuing the lost, seeking out 
the poor and needy, the oppressed and afflicted, that 
was born of the same spirit that has actuated, carried 
forward, empowered, and energized the true ministers 
and missionaries of the cross in all ages of the world’s 
history. . : 
Although members of different denominations, — - 
yet we were entirely free from the spirit of sectism. 
By “one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” 
(Christ). Christ’s prayer that His disciples might be 
made one, was truly fulfilled in us. We knew no 
divisions of faith, sentiment or doctrine; but under the - 
fresh baptism of the Spirit, a blessed spirit of oneness 
and love prevailed continuously among us. The orig- 
inal members that composed this band were Rev. E. 
F. Dickinson, Pastor of Third Avenue Mission, a man 
Christ-like in spirit and life, wise in counsel, and deep- 
ly compassionate for the erring and lost. His services 
were especially helpful in its formation and early 
work. About the year 1882 he ceased from his labors 
and entered into rest. He “being dead yet speaketh.” 
Brother Dickinson was superintendent of the whole 
work, and the writer acted as leader of the band. 
Charles Cooke, D. W. Andrews, and Samuel Gittens 
were enrolled among its first members, and worked 
efficiently and faithfully until called to their reward. 
Rev. R. S. Martin, now pastor of the Western Avenue 
M. E. Church, Chicago, was also a member of the 
band. Brother Martin labored very faithfully and 
successfully during the whole time we were in Indiana. 
Rev. Thos. Fluck, now of California, was a charter 
member, and worked very earnestly in the cause with 





WORK OF THE MISSION BAND. 75 


us for many years. Sister Sarah A. Cooke was among 


the first to advocate and adopt this aggressive mission- 
ary movement. Her prayers, devotion to the work, 
sacrifice and activity, were a stimulus to all the rest of 
the band. From the formation of the band to the 
close of the work in Indiana, Sister Cooke was on 
hand and aided very materially in the extension and 
upbuilding of the work. Whenever any. perplexing 
question was to be settled, or any new work to be un- 
dertaken, she would get us down together on our 
knees, and have matters settled there. On many crit- 
ical occasions we thus sought and found the wisdom 
from above, and the help we so much needed. Truly 
the little band was “led of the Lord,” as with hearts, 
eyes and hands uplifted toward God, we cried: ‘“‘Guide 
us, O thou great Jehovah.” A brother by the name of 
Tonzaline, a devoted, talented man, labored with us in 
the beginning also. Henry Huck, who did our print- 
ing, a brother by the name of Bradshaw, and Brother 
and Sister Jones, now in California, were earnest and 
devoted workers with us. Many precious seasons of 
prayer we had together in the groves and around the 
camps, and sometimes in buggies and wagons as we 
journeyed along. Everywhere we organized prayer 


- and praise meetings. We lived and breathed the very 





atmosphere of prayer and praise. We called upon all 
that was within us to “bless and praise His holy 
name;” and then we called upon everything outside of 
us—all nature, animate and inanimate, to join with 
us in the grand chorus of praise to the God of heaven 
and earth. We frequently sang: 


“Break forth into singing, ye trees of the woods, 
For Jesus is bringing lost sinners to God.” 


Our first work was to open numbers of mission- 
rooms in the neglected portions of the city. The prin- 
cipal one was located in Larabee street, near the home 
of Bro. Cooke. We also visited the hospitals, where 
we prayed and talked salvation to the inmates, this 


76 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


being a part of our mission, to carry the gospel to the 
‘ sick and dying. Many cried for the balm of Gilead, 
and to the great Physician for mercy and salvation in 
their last hours. 

Street and out-door meetings were still another 
part of our mission. Many wild and very wicked men 
have been reached and saved by out-door preaching. 
On Sundays, in the summer, we held services in Lin- 
coln Park, where great crowds of pleasure-seekers 
resorted. The Lord was with us in power, and every- 
where we went in Jesus’ name the gospel was made the 
power of God unto thé salvation of the lost. We en- 
countered difficulties, oppositions and persecutions, 
but grace carried us successfully through. We realized 
what the ancient poets wrote and sang, that 


‘“God’s grace can assistance lend, 
And on that grace we dared depend.” 


We found it to be as mighty now as when Elijah 


felt its power. So it will ever be; no matter what 
changes may come, there will be no weakening of 
God’s grace, nor lessening of His power. 

In the summer of 1876 we pitched a tent and held 
a camp-meeting at Hessville, Indiana. At this time 
the Lord designed to thrust us out into the regions 
beyond.—outside the city. Much prayer was offered 
for the success of this first camp-meeting; but the 
saving and sanctifying results were not large. There 
must be a seed-time before in the nature of things 
there can be a harvest. The seed of divine truth was 
sown in many minds and hearts. People came from 
distant villages and towns and heard the word of salva- 
tion proclaimed. Some came to scoff, mock at and 
deride religion, but they went away with the arrows of 
conviction in their minds and consciences. There was 


no great outbreak of power or outpouring of the Spirit 


at this meeting. It seemed to be a forerunner. It 
prepared the way for other meetings. 
Ross Station was the next place to be visited. It 


- 


¢ 





- THE REVIVAL AT ROSS. 7 


was at Ross that the work broke out in great power. 
There seemed to be an outburst of the cloud of mercy; 
for miles and miles around “mercy drops” fell on the 
people. There was a general awakening and wide- 
spread interest. Conviction seized men fifteen miles 
away, who had not been near the meeting. We passed 
a place one day where the men had stopped their 
threshing-machine, and were having a prayer-meeting. 
A little farther on, the reapers in the harvest field had 
stopped their work of reaping, and were down on their 
knees engaged in prayer. The spirit of simplicity, 
earnestness, and full devotion to the work of soul- 
saving, that characterized all the members of the little 
band, seemed at once to disarm the people of all their 
prejudices and objections to the work. The secret of 
all the success of the band, under God, was that 
marked simplicity, earnestness and thorough devotion 
to the work. There was no time spent in controversy, 
or quibbling about theological questions or dogmas. 
There was no effort made at sermonizing or anything 
great. Frequent seasons of earnest, prevailing prayer, 
lively singing, a simple presentation of some text, or 
portion of the Scriptures, followed by short, burning 
messages, exhortations and testimonies, was usually 
the order of the meetings. We had no formal, dry 
services. The blessed Spirit breathed life and power 
on us and among us in every service. Sudden out- 
bursts of cries for mercy and shouts of praise were 
heard in most of the meetings. D. W. Andrews and 
R. S. Martin, students in the Chicago colleges, joined 
us in these camp-meetings. They never got back to 
Chicago to school again. God fastened a retainer on 
them for the work in Indiana; and they learned some 
important lessons in the school of practical work for 
Christ that they never could have learned from books 
or the schools. No man can bea success in the work 
of God till he attends and goes through the school of 
experience. This meeting lasted about three weeks 


It was a memorable—yea, a gloriousmeeting. We 


. 
'& 


i ey a 
oh SESS pee eee ae 
Ze : * te » 


78 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


did “eat our meat with gladness and simpleness of heart, 
praising God and having favor with all the people.” 
The Spirit seemed to so thoroughly pervade and con- 
quer the minds and hearts of the people that we had 
free and easy access to everybody, ‘The kindness and 
hospitality of the people was simply remarkable. 


W M. Kelsey, now pastor of the First F. M. Church 
in Chicago, was gloriously saved in this meeting. 
Bro. Kelsey was brought up a Campbellite. Our altar- 
services and work at first scared him. The first day he 
attended he came to the altar for prayers, but was not 
much convicted. After coming to the altar he seemed 
to be possessed of a dumb spirit. He was asked where 
he was from, his name, and what he wanted; but he 
refused to answer. One of the workers took hold of 
his hair and lifted up his head and prayed God to cast 
the dumb devil out of him. That stirred him. He ~ 
got away from the altar and out of the camp, feeling 
terribly wrathy. He felt that he had been abused and 
disgraced. He determined never to come back, and 
talked against the meetings all the way home. The 

-next day conviction was so heavy upon him that he 
literally staggered under it. He never wanted to see 
the man again that had so misused him at the altar; 
but next night found him back at the meeting. Special 
prayer had been offered for him, and that night he 
was strikingly and: powerfully converted. Before his 
chains fell off, he trembled and shook. He said it 
seemed to him that the seats and the house were 
shaking. When the deliverance came, he ran immedi- 
ately to the man that he thought abused him the night 
previous, and embraced him, and his dear old mother. 
Since then he has felt a love for that man that he has 
never felt for other men. J.D. Kelsey, his brother, 
first met us at the meeting; he was enjoying salvation 
at the time. The spirit of the meeting and the work 
of salvation that was going on so captivated Brother 
Kelsey that he prayed three times in the first service 
he attended. Brother Kelsey joined us, and worked 





VICTORY AT MERRILLVILLE, ~~~ 79 


successfully with us for years. Both the Brothers 
Kelsey entered the gospel ministry, and God has 
made them very successful in the work. To God be 
all the glory. 

A church was built at Ross to conserve the work. 
Thomas Fluck worked on it, and superintended its 
erection. The converts were urged to seek holiness. 
The doctrines specially taught by the band were re- 
pentance, faith, regeneration and adoption, noncon- 
formity with the world, consecration and sanctification. 
Ross became a kind of Jerusalem for the band. It was 


_ there we held most of our special and annual meetings. 


Oh! what rich and fresh baptisms and anointings of 
the Spirit came upon us.. There we got newly fitted 
up for further conquests and labors. Multitudes of 


-souls will bless God in eternity for the Ross camp- 


meetings. 

The pillar of cloud and fire then moved to Merrill- 
ville, as the next battle-ground. For three weeks we 
held services in Brother Gilbert Morgan’s grove. Al- 
though it was harvest time, the busy season among the 
farmers, yet crowds of people attended day and night. 
The Spirit worked mightily; many were seized and 
smitten with conviction. In deep penitence, confes- 
sion and repentance they sought the great salvation, 
amid cries, tears and entreaties to the ‘Mighty to 
save.” Glorious deliverances were experienced. 
Brother Morgan had a protracted struggle on the 
tobacco habit, and, later, in seeking a clean. heart; but 
the Lord gloriously delivered him. He afterwards 


- donated a large new tabernacle to the band, to prose- 


cute the work in. Brother Morgan is a,consecrated 
man. Ever since we have known him, he has stood by 
the cause of Christ with his means as well as with his 
prayers and Christian efforts. He now lives in Engle- 
wood. He and Sister Morgan are ripening for the 
heavenly home. 

The new tent was pitched at Wood’s Mills for the 
next meeting, and from there we went to Blachley’s 


80 ; WAYSIDE SKETCHES. ates 


Corners. The converts followed us to these meetings. 
Young converts make the best. of workers. Their tes- 
timonies are so fresh, bright and convincing. The 
whole country around was stirred, as at the previous 
places visited by the band, and many passed from 
death to “life,” and began to. live in newness of life. 
At the Wood’s Mills meeting, S. B. Shaw, a promising 
young man, who was attending the Normal School at 
Valparaiso, was soundly converted. Brother Shaw at 
once began to advocate and work to spread the great 
salvation. For years he has labored as a holiness 
evangelist in Michigan. The book entitled “‘ Remark- 
able Answers to Prayer” was compiled by him. 


At Hobart the friends built a tabernacle for us, 
with inquiry rooms. Brother and Sister Gutherie, 
Brother and Sister Geerheart, Brother and Sister Har- 
per and a Brother Henderson, who now lives at Beloit, 
Wisconsin, assisted very materially in the beginning of 
the work at Hobart. Wickedness abounded in this 
little town; but a great work of reformation and salva- 
tion was wrought among the people. We held prayer- 
meetings in the saloons. One day the drug-store man 
fixed up his store and we had a noon prayer-meeting 
there. The influence of the meeting was felt through- 
out the town. Here we found the aged father of the 
Rev. L. B. Kent. He lived toa ripe old age, and was 
filled with the rich things and blessings of God. Short- 
ly after this meeting he peacefully passed away to 
rest. 

Wonderful meetings were held in the tabernacle. 
One Sunday afternoon, six bright, promising young 
men were at the altar, and all of them were saved. €. 
H. Loomis was among the number. He afterwards 
entered the ministry. For years he has been located 
in California. Brother Loomis gave promise of great 


usefulness. I trust he has continued in the faith and - 


power of the gospel. Rodney Castle, a farmer living 
in this vicinity, some two miles south of town, was 
gloriously saved in this meeting. Brother Castle had 





CONVERSION OF RODNEY CASTLE. SS 


followed us around to the different meetings, and was 


convicted of sin. At the Hobart meeting, pungent 
and deep conviction settled upon him. One day, 


- while he was ploughing, the writer followed him after 


the plow, and urged him to seek salvation. After- 
wards he said he came near dropping down in his 
tracks. On another occasion, while we were praying 
in his house, he said that he had to count.the fence- 


‘ posts through the window to keep from breaking 


down. Later, while working in a ditch, the Lord 
reined him up to decision. Suddenly he felt shocked 
with the conviction that it was life or death, heaven or 
hell with him. He stuck his spade in the ground and 
said: “Lord, help me; I will yield.” He had called 
the inquiry-rooms ‘“‘sweat-rooms,” and said he would 
never go there; but that night, after the preaching, he 
was ready for the sweat-rooms. He went in, and down 
upon_his knees, and prayed this way: “O Lord, I am 
the most miserable sinner under the sun.” The Lord 
very graciously delivered and saved him. Some time 
later he said to me: “Hanmer, what shall I do about 
this tobacco habit?” I replied: “God help you, Rod- 
ney, to walk in the light.” He did so, and has, by the 
grace of God, continued to do so. He stands to-day 
as a beacon-light for truth. So does Brother Pierce, 
of Merrillville. Both are living episties and shining 


lights in the world; examples of what full salvation 


can do for men. They have stood as pillars in the 
church of God. Praise God! 


At Crown Point a building used as a warehouse, 


‘ owned by Brother Merton, was fitted up for our 


meeting-house; but soon we moved the meeting to 
Cheshire Hall, in the center of the town. Rev. T. E. 
Webb, the M. E. minister, and Rev. Mr. Young, a 
Presbyterian, both joined earnestly with us in the good 
work; also Rev. Timothy Ball, Father Kinney, Judge 
Turner, with his excellent wife, and Brother Arunah 
Phelps, joined heart and hand with us in the revival 
effort. Mrs. Turner testified to having received great 
s 


82 _ WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


light and blessing in the meeting. After finding the 
blessing of a clean heart, she said: ‘“‘The Bible now is” 
plain and simple. It seems to stand out illustrated. 
Before, I could not understand it, but now it is like a 
mine filled with rich treasures.” Many were brought 
toa saving knowledge of the truth in this meeting. 

We visited Lowell on Monday night; preached and 
held a meeting at six o’clock Tuesday morning. The 
awakening Spirit seemed to affect the whole country. 
For seventeen miles along the road between Crown _ 
Point and Valparaiso there was scarcely a house but in ~ 
which at least one had been saved. 

At Hebron a tabernacle was built, after the tent- 
meeting, and the work was carried on in great power. 
This meeting was extraordinary. Wave after wave of 
power and glory swept over the place. The very at- 
mosphere seemed to be permeated with divine influ- 
ence. Men felt it as they entered the town. Remark- 
able and wonderful were the scenes that we witnessed 
at this meeting. Often we were called up nights to 
pray with men and women who were in great distress 
and anguish of soul. The druggist and his wife (Pres- 
byterians) were overcome by the power of God, and 
laid prostrate to the earth. When they came to again, 
the old gentleman prayed about as follows: “O Lord, 
this has been a powerful operation;” adding: “Lord, 
it seems that the old bottom of things has dropped 
out, and we are all spilt over.” 

At Wheeler and Valparaiso we held interesting 
and successful meetings. Brothers Haxton and Curtis, 
and their families, assisted in every possible way in 
the meetings. A number of years ago Brother Haxton 
‘passed on before” to the “land that is fairer than 
day.” 

A number of very interesting incidents occurred 
in these meetings, which will show something of the 
character of the work. A farmer was saved—a man 
ignorant of the great truths of religion, and very crude 
in speech. His heart yearned at once for the salva- 

> °°. 








THE LABORER WORTHY OF HIS HIRE. 83 


tion of others, and he went out in the inquiry-meeting 


and brought three young men to the altar. He wanted 
them saved as he was.. We were out in the inquiry- 
meeting, so there was no one there to pray for them. 
The newly converted farmer thought he must pray; 
but as yet he had never prayed in public. It seemed 
difficult for him to start. At length he got started, 
and prayed a most sincere and simple prayer, as 
follows: ‘O Lord, hold them solid to the bench.” 
After waiting a little, he added this petition to his first 
prayer: “O Lord, never let these young men leave the. 
bench till they get salvation.” 


On Sunday, when we were taking up a free-will 
offering, Brother Asa Curtis stepped out and said: “I 
will start the-collection with a cow for Brother Han- 
mer’s family; we must stand by the families of these 
men who are devoting their time and services to the 
work of God.” The converts not only prayed and 
sang lustily in the meeting, but they also gave of their 


means to assist the workers. Sister Skinner and others 


in Valparaiso stood and contended for the “old paths” 
and a religion that saves from all sin, worldliness, and 
unrighteousness 

North Judson and Knox also were visited by the 
band. A marvelous work of grace was wrought in 
each place. Knox wasa very wicked place. Horse- 
racing on the main streets was a common occurrence 
on Sundays. A great and glorious .change was 
wrought. The religious and moral tone of the place 
was entirely changed. A new church was built, anda 
new era in the history of Knox began. Two weeks 
ago we passed through Knox on the train. About 
fifteen years have passed since we were there, and we 
were humbled and gratified to find forty or fifty of the 
friends and converts of other years there on the plat- 
form to greet us. Joseph Byers was among the num- 
ber. We first met him in a hardware store in North 
Judson, while distributing tracts and handbills. As he 
came into the store his face looked hard and bloated, 





84 WAYSIDE SKETCHES: 


and his clothing was torn. He looked like a drinking 
-man, tor such he was. I addressed him rather abrupt- 
ly. Said I: “Young man, your great need is salvation; 
you are in the broad way of destruction; the rapid train 
is downward.” That simple message lived with him. 
I invited him to the meetings, but he went to the 
saloon instead. The last night of the meeting he came 
with a bottle of whiskey in his pocket, but the arrow 
of truth and conviction reached his heart, and brought 
him down in penitence and confession at the foot of 
the cross. The Lord saved him. His brother after- 
wards testified that Joseph had nearly converted the 
old farm. He had repaired and beautified the old 
house where he lived, and was taking better care of his 
aged father and mother. No reasonable man will offer 
a protest against a religion of that character. 

A work of salvation was wrought in Indiana during 
those years that neither men nor devils have been able 
to stamp or blot out. The work of God is abiding in 
its character. A more remarkable or wonderful work 
has seldom been witnessed in modern times. It was ° 
on the Pentecost plan and order. Some of the work- 
ers and many of the converts of those years have gone 
to their reward. 

Soon the rest of us will be called away. Let us 
“work while the day lasts.” ‘They that are wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and 
ever. Amen, 

W. G. HANMER, 
Free Methodist Gen. Conf. Evangelist, 
2049 Ridge Ave., Evanston, Ill 





RECOLLECTIONS OF THE MISSION BAND, 85 


CHAPTER IX 


No work was ever under more direct guidance of 
the great Lord of the vineyard than this work in 
Northern Indiana. As surely as He guided the chil- 
dren of Israel from place to place, He guided us. 
Wherever. invited to go, our answer would be, “you 
pray about it, and if the Lord would have us move 
there we will surely come.” And as the people would 
see the wonderful displays of the Lord’s power, they 
would sometimes speak of what “the band was doing,” 
but quickly one or another of us would be on our feet 
giving all the glory to God. “Without Me ye can do 
nothing.” Powerless as a sword in the hand of a little 
child, would “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of 
God,” have been in our hands without the presence 


_and power of the Savior. Then He so wonderfully 


opened up our way; hearts and homes opened every- 
where to receive us. 


I shall never forget the first night spent with Mrs. 
Skinner, of Valparaiso—a very earnest worker and one 
of the leaders in the temperance crusade. We met at 
the home of Bro. and Sister Haxton. There was not 
much sleep for either of us that night; for just as did the 
disciples on their way to Emmaus, who talked of Him 
they loved, and He drew near, so it was with us, and 
we could say: “ Did not our hearts burn within us as 
He talked with us by the way?” This was the begin- 


ning of a deep, long friendship; her home in Valpa- 


raiso, the home of all our band, her words of loving 
cheer often helping us on our way. Knowing how 


greatly she was interested in the work, I wrote, asking 


86 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, * 


her to write her impressions of it; and received, a few _ 


days ago, the following letter: 

My beloved friend, Sister Cooke, has conferred a 
favor upon me, in asking me to write a chapter for her 
book. I feel most unworthy and incompetent to do so. 
However, since the Lord so greatly blessed me in per- 
mitting me to be associated with her in other days, 
and asI greatly enjoyed the ministry of those who 


labored with her in our own city and county, I feel con- - 


strained to do so, looking up to Him for guidance who 
has long been my guide and counselor. 

It was sometime in the early spring of 1876 that I 
first formed the acquaintance of the Mission Band. A 
neighbor of mine came in one morning and invited me 
to go with his family a few miles in the country to a 
meeting that was being conducted by a company of 
Christian workers, who he said he was sure I would 
like. It was a lovely Sabbath morning, and, quite 
unusual for me, I went, for I had never indulged in 
riding out on the Lord’s day, and always attended my 
own church. I shall never forget my first impression 
as I went in. The school-house was crowded, and peo- 
ple were standing about the doors and windows out- 
side. Bro. Hanmer was preaching, and every eye was 
fixed upon him while he poured out his full soul in 
earnest words. Bro. Andrews followed with earnest 


exhortation. Conviction was written on the faces of © 


the unsaved, while holy joy shone on the faces of those 
who were leading the meeting. A hymn was sung, and 
sinners were invited forward. A number came, and 
earnest prayers followed. My own soul was greatly 
moved, and I was much blessed. 

It was not long before an opportunity opened for 
me to go again, which I gladly accepted, this time 
going to Wheeler, a little village about eight miles 
from Valparaiso, my home. .There I met, for the first 
time, my beloved friend, Sister Cooke. We were wel- 
comed and entertained at the homes of Brothers 
Haxton and Curtis, a mile or two from the village: 








THE REVIVAL IN INDIANA. 87 


Their homes, like my own, were blessed like the house of 
Obed-edom, where the ark of God rested. What times 
of refreshing we had: together! It seemed like enter- 
taining angels. I was very anxious for the band, which 
numbered eight or ten, to come to our place, but so 
many appointments were already waiting that it was 
not until late in the summer that they were able to 
come. 


Lake County had been the first to receive the 
benefit of the labors of these heaven-baptized people; 
and a blessed work had been accomplished before I 
met them. All the country for miles around was ina 
flame of revival fire; wherever they went, in school- 
house or church, a praying band was formed, and 
young converts were pressed into the service as soon 
as born into the kingdom. Strange to say, but few pro- 
fessing Christians were ready to welcome these dear 
people among them, and cold-hearted professors were 
ready to criticise the work done by unordained preach- 
ers, as some of them were. There being no church 
opened to them, a large tent was raised in the center 
of the town, which was quickly filled with people. The 
gospel was faithfully preached, and multitudes flocked 
to hear. Some were powerfully converted, others were 
brought out into the light who had been church-mem- 
bers for years without any experience, and many back- 
sliders were reclaimed; but, alas! many resisted the 
Spirit, and went away unsaved. Satan is always busy 
at such a time, and many there were who scoffed at the 
work, and said hard things about us. One sister was 
deeply convicted and came and confessed, with tears, 
the hard things she had said about me for encouraging 
those people. I told her! freely forgave her, and, 
indeed, should never have known it had she not told 
me. Though I did hear of unkind things that were 
said, I was carried far above them; the sweet peace of 
God filled my soul, and had they trampled me under 
foot I think I should have praised the Lord all the 


more. 


8 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


O those blissful days! ‘ How sweet their mem- 
ory still!” I remember a meeting that was held at 
Crown Point, about that time, for it was their plan, 
like St. Paul, to revisit all the “ places whither they 
had been.” I had joined the band, and, being one of 
their number, went with them. So soon as we were 
comfortably seated in the wagon, prayer and praise 
commenced, and continued all the way for eighteen 
miles. Sometimes we would meet travelers on the 
way, and they were at once invited to come to the 
meeting. If unsaved, they were exhorted at once to 
come to Christ, and were prayed for personally. 
Sometimes it would be a convert from some of their 
meetings, or some older Christian who had been blessed 
at the meeting; ifso,a hearty ‘‘God bless you,” a 
“Hallelujah,” or “Glory to God,” would break out 
over the beautiful country. I remember we met 
Bro. Myrel Pierce, who literally praised God all the 
time. At another time we all stopped to take dinner 
at a farm-house. The weather was very warm, so with 
one accord we began a service in the front yard, kneel- 
ing on the lovely green grass. - Such singing and pray- 
ing as we did have! Sometimes, as we went on the 
train, or waited at the depot, we improved the oppor- 
tunity to sing and pray, often inviting sinners who 
stood about to come to Christ. Once we had a real 
Pentecost at Hobart depot; some got happy and 
shouted, and others cried for joy. Whole families were 
converted. Sometimes a little child was the first start, 
bringing all the rest of the family. The Holy’ Spirit 
seemed to fill the very atmosphere. The burden of all 
the prayers, and the testimony of all the saved, was 
“Holiness to the Lord.” The Word of God was on 
every tongue, and the praises of God came from every 
heart of the saved and sanctified ones. People who 
stayed at home were converted; some ran away from 
the meetings to get rid of conviction, but were pressed 
back by the power of God’s Spirit, in answer to the 
prayers of God’s people, 








- 


DISSOLUTION OF THE MISSION BAND. 89 


_ This mighty wave of salvation continued year 
after year. Multitudes, now in heaven, were saved and 
sanctified by those precious means of grace. I fear 
some have backslidden; others have remained stead- 
fast and are still ‘‘ pressing the battle to the gates.” As 
I recall their names, I think of some who are far away: 
Dear Brother and Sister Jones are now in California, 
doubtless working for the Master. -Well do we remem- 
ber their earnest labors. Bro. Martin, now holding the 
responsible position of pastor of an M. E. church in 
Chicago. The Brothers Kelsey, both ministers of the 
gospel. Bro. Andrews and Bird, who arenow inheaven, 
were found at their post when the Master called. Bro. 
Charles Cooke, now gone to his reward. Earnestly 
and faithfully he worked for the Master here; bright, 
no doubt, is his crown of rejoicing. Dear Sister Good- 
win, who has been faithful through years of trial, now 
lives at Marion, a faithful witness of the power of God 
to save and keep. Last, but not least, our precious 
Sister Cooke. No need to write her testimony ; the 
mere mention of her name will cause to vibrate in 
many hearts a loving tribute to her memory. Long 
may she live to witness and work in this world of sin. 
What can I say of my own poor heart? Saved and 
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Much do I owe, 
under God, to the dear Mission Band for the peace 
that now flows over my soul. Yes, the precious blood 
of Christ ‘‘cleanseth from all sin’”—praised be His 
name forever! 

J. E. SKINNER. 


A PERSONAL LETTER. 


Hopart, Ind., May 28, 1877. 
My Dear Housspanp: It is Monday, my day of 
rest; and while Mrs. Jones sits down to write to her 
daughter, I take my seat by her side to write to you. 
~The spring here has passed into summer and the coun- 
try is looking beautiful. Had a full view of it yesterday, 
while riding fifteen miles to different places where we 


. 


90 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 





_held meetings. I suppose all around you everything is 
about as beautiful as here—more so, as art has added 
to nature [ at Sydenham, near the Crystal Palace, Eng. | 


_ I was in Chicago about ten days ago, for two days. 
Saw Mrs. Charles, Mrs. George and the children. Things 
are running on about as usual. We expected Charles 
out on Saturday night, but he did not come; I have not 
yet heard the reason. You know how busy heis; every 
now and then he misses the train. I had a letter from 
Mary lately; Fanny’s husband is in very delicate health, 
and they were feeling much concerned, as the father 
died when quite young. Did I tell you that Mrs. John 
Mann died on her way to California? How well for 
their orphan children that they have such kind relatives 
to care for them. : 

I expect in about two weeks our tent will again be 
raised. We have invitations from various points, but 
have not yet decided on the place.. Valparaiso has, I 
think, the first claim. It has one of the largest schools 
in the United States, with 1,500 young people; what a 
glorious field to work in, and the Lord has given us 
the first fruits; one young man saved the day we were 
there, and many deeply interested. O what a glorious 
work this is! Dearest, how my soul longs for you to 
know the joys of God’s salvation; all outside of this 
is unsatisfying; vanity and vexation is written on almost 
everything; and then how soon the end will come. O 
flee, my beloved husband, while you may, to Jesus. 


“Vet there is room, still open stands the gate, 
The gate of love; it is not yet too late: 
Pass in, pass in! that banquet is for thee. 
All heaven is there, all joy: go in, go in. 
There angels beckon thee the prize to win— 
O enter, enter now.” ~ 


We have seen so many of all ages saved. One 
dear girl, exceedingly beautiful, is now very low, and 
near the crossing, but so happy; her room seems filled 
with the presence of Jesus. Another of these saved 


e7 s 








? 


A WHOLE-HEARTED CONSECRATION. gl 


ones passed away a few weeks ago; not a fear as she 
neared the shore of eternity. 

I heard from dear Fanny a few days ago. She 
speaks of being so much better in health; I was so glad 
to hear it; and dear mother about the sameas usual. I 
hear so little English news; so taken up with our own, © 


or rather the Lord’s work. 


I am looking for a letter from you. Hope youare 
well. Give my love to Emma, and kind regards to her. 
husband. 

Believe me as ever, 
Your loving wife, 
SarAH A. COOKE. 
ANN CUTLER’S CONSECRATION. 

Amen, my Lord, by any means, by any instrument, 
hasten the time when ‘the kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 


Christ, and the whole earth shall be filled with the 


knowledge of the glory of God!” 

One of the holy women mentioned above, Ann Cut- 
ler, who was converted under the preaching of Bram- 
well, and often worked with him in revivals, wrote the 
following consecration, which she renewed every day. 
I have found it very helpful: 

_ “Blessed Father, loving Jesus, Holy Spirit! I give 


my body and soul into Thy hands. Have Thy whole 


will in me; use me to Thy glory, and never let me 
grieve Thy Spirit. I will be Thine every moment; and 
all that Thou art is mine. We are fully united; we are 


ONE; and I pray that we may be one forever. I give 


myself again to Thee. Give Thyself again to me. 
“Father, I reverence Thy majesty, and sink before 
Thee. Thou art a holy God. I submit my all to Thee. 
I live under Thy inspection, and wonder at Thy glory 
every moment. Blessed Jesus! Thou art my constant 
friend and companion. Thou art always with me. We 
walk together in the nearest union. I can talk to Thee 
as my Mediator. Thou showest me the Father, and I 


92 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


am lost in beholding His glory. Thou takest me out 
and bringest me in. Thou art with me wherever I go. 
Mine eyes are upon Thee as my pattern and continual 
help! 
‘Holy Spirit!) Thou art my Comforter. I feel for 
. Thee a constant, burning love. My heart is set on fire” 
by Thy blessed influence. I pray by Thy power. It 
is through Thee I am brought to Jesus; through Jesus ~ 
I am swallowed up in what I call glory; and I can say, 
Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son, and glory 
be to the Holy Ghost! 
“T have union with the Trinity thus. I see the_ 
Son through the Spirit; I find the Father through the 
Son, and God is my all and in all!” 


CHAPTER X. 


VISITING one day from house to house, we found a 
young woman on whom consumption had taken fast 
hold, and it seemed that her life-days were numbered. 
As we talked to her of the way of salvation, of that 
God before whose face she must soon stand, she said 
“she did not believe the Bible;”’ her mind was full of 
darkness and unbelief. “If the light that is in you,” 
said the Savior, “be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness;” darker spiritually than the poor benighted 
heathen, and harder to reach. She had been surrounded 
by light, but all had been rejected. She could not un- 
derstand. ‘ Why did God do this and that?” arraign- 
ing, in her proud self-sufficiency, the God who made 
and rules the universe. I left her, with sadness in my 
_ heart, and thought a letter might touch her more than 
the spoken words; so I wrote: - 

My Dear YounG Frrenp: Now we know in part; 
there is much of mystery about God; our finite minds 
cannot grasp or understand Him. When you were a 
child four years old, could you understand or enter into 


a 

















e 


A YOUTHFUL SINNER ADMONISHED. 93 


the pians of your parents, why they did this or that? 
Now how plain it is; your interests theirs; you see 
it all. 

We are here in the first stage of spiritual life, and 
only one book can teach us what we need to know of 
Him. You can learn of other things from other 
sources. 

Volney, the great historian, a rejecter of revelation, 
and a professed skeptic, when nearing the setting of 
life’s sun, in writing to a friend, said: ‘“‘ I am surrounded 
by invulnerable darkness. If I look within, all is per- 
plexity.. If I look forward, all is confusion and disor- 
der. I can understand nothing.” (I write from mem- 
ory.) Once, when exploring the countries whose his- 
tories he was writing, coming to the site of ancient 
Babylon and seeing how exactly prophecy had been 
fulfilled, with the Bible in his hand he exclaimed: ‘It 
is wonderful! Wonderful!” How the Lord would then 
have come in and revealed Himself to him as his God, 
his guide, if he had yielded to that conviction. 

So it must be with every one who rejects this one 
light that God has given. 

Dear young friend, step by step you have brought 
yourself into this awful position. The secret of it all 
you will find by reading carefully the first chapter of 
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 16th to 20th verses; you 
did not care to retain God in your thoughts. Soon, in 
all probability, you will pass from earth to prove the 
awful realities of these things. Now you are within 
the reach of love and mercy, where every sin may be 


.forgiven. ‘God is love;” ‘‘ His nature and His name 


is Love.’ O humble yourself before Him and call 
mightily on Him to blot out all the past, all the rejec- 
tion of the Savior and the offers of His love, and give 
you His Holy Spirit. It is Himself who is speaking ta 


-you through these afflictions and sufferings that you 


are having to endure, and will through these words, if 
you will let Him, give you another call “to seek Him 


while He may be found.” Reject Him, and bitter will 


visa WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 





be your anguish through all eternity—tribulation and 
anguish. ‘ Because I called and ye refused, I stretched 
forth my hand and ye regarded not.” O how he warns 
~ you! “ Your desolation shall come as a whirlwind;” no 
shelter from the storm of divine wrath for your guilty 
soul if you neglect it here, and the thought ever return- 
ing: ‘I might have been a ransomed soul in the pres- 
ence of God forever; nothing but unbelief has brought 
me here.” ‘Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? © 
the wondrous invitations, the awful warnings! shall 
they all be rejected? The Spirit’s strivings come to 
yours, as to every heart, reproving of sin, of righteous- 
ness and of judgment. 
Yours most truly, in Jesus’ love, 
SaraH A. COOKE. 


Mr. Peter Zeller, a preacher in Michigan, told of 


his father, inclined to skepticism, who would read his 
Bible, but it would be like a sealed book to him. “One 
day he had gone with a brother to a service, and the 
preacher told of the awful danger of the unsaved. As 
they walked home together, a mile and a half, in silence, 
side by side, one brother said to the other, “If these 
things be true, we are in an awful case, but I have no 
feeling about it.” ‘Shall we ask God to show us these 
things?” the other brother said; ‘“‘I am just with you;” 
and they agreed to go to the first one’s house together. 
The wife was not a Christian, but a believer in the truth 
of revelation» They got down and prayed, and soon, 
in answer to prayer, He who has promised to give His 
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him began to reveal to 
them these things. Before daylight, the wife’ and 
Brother Zeller’s father had been gloriously converted. 
“My father had not been home twenty minutes,” he 
said, ‘‘ before I saw something wonderful had happened 
to him, he looked so different, he acted so different; 
‘Old things had passed away, and all things had become 
new; his name was written in the Lamb’s book of life.” 

The Lamb of God expiring on the accursed tree, 
the sacrifice for sin, the rocks rending, the vail of the 











A WAYWARD DAUGHTER REBUKED. 95 


temple rent in twain, all tell of what it cost to rescue 
the soul from eternal death—to open its way to ever- 
lasting life. ‘‘ Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and 
perish.” Despise His offered mercy; despise His 
commandments; and all that remains when life’s short 
race is run is a fearful looking-for of judgment. 

There is nothing more painful to those living near 
God, than to: see children who have been cradled in 
the light of gospel teachings deliberately choosing the 
world for their portion. ‘Warn them for me,” is the 
voice of the Spirit, and often we have done _ it; some- 
times by word, sometimes by letter; always with 
prayer for divine light and guidance. To one such, 
‘these words were written: 

-DEAR YouNG FRIEND: As _ two sisters in Christ 
talked together of the state of -the church of 
which they were members, its prosperity, its hind- 
rances, the pastor and his children were spoken 
of. Was there no hindrance there? And, asked the 
elder of the two, ‘‘Has no one ever spoken to his 
daughter faithfully, kindly, of the inconsistent course 
she is taking, weakening her father’s influence?” “It 
would be no use,” was the teply of the younger one. 
And yet my Bible, the Word of God, says: “We must 
not suffer sin upon our neighbor;” we must “in any- 
wise rebuke him.” We must not hate him in our 
heart; unfaithfulness, so far from being a proof of love, 
‘in God’s sight, is just the reverse. Lev. 19:17. 

And so, this morning, I take up my pen, and may 
He whose I am, and whom I serve, help me. Your 
father is a minister in our church; holds a high and 
prominent position, and you know full well that one of 
our main issues is plainness of dress (so plainly taught 
in the Word of God). You may reason, ‘I am nota 
Christian ’—fearful, awful thought/—but this by no 
means excuses you. A child, a daughter in your 
father’s house, ought not filial love to control? Have 
you no wish to honor and to obey him? One of the 
commandments, given with such divine glory, and as 


Fe S 3 1~1 ar 
5 
Fad ths eae 
J < ; ie or v a 


96 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. aa te 


binding to-day as on that day when given on Mount 
Sinai, was ** Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy 
God giveth thee.” You, dear girl, do greatly dishonor 
him; for whenever in the pulpit, or in writing, he 
attempts to enforce these divine precepts, will not-the 
sad thought press upon him: “If my own children do 
not obey me; if I cannot rule in my own house, how 
can I rule in the church of God?” And your influence 
does not stop with yourself. ' . 
I hear of your mother; of her holy, saintly life; 
and you doubtless have heard of it too; does it stir no 
desires in your heart to follow in her footsteps; to 
share at last, with her, the same glorious heaven; to 
receive the same welcome—‘ Enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord?” But now “your all is afloat for eter- 
nity,’— ; ae iss 


“But Bethlehem’s star is not in view, . 
And _ your aim is far from the harbor true.” 


The great day of God’s wrath hastens and will 
overtake you with its tribulation and anguish, if un- 
saved. O where will you fly for shelter? every refuge 
will fail you then, and, like the great statesman, John 
Randolph, you will look back on life’s wasted oppor- 
tunities; the Spirit so often grieved and nothing left 
but remorse! remorse! 

O dear girl, turn now—before forever the day of 
hope and mercy is past! 

[his is the prayer of one who loves your soul 
must truly, Sarau A. COOKE. 


Almost every one wants to reach heaven—has a 
secret hope of some day being in the home of ever- 
lasting happiness and glory. When the Baptist lifted 
up his voice in the wilderness of Judea, “all. the 
country was moved” as the news was heralded “that a 
prophet had arisen” and God had again visited His 
people. No prophet’s voice had been heard for near 
four centuries, Priest and people—the rich, the poor, 

















QA ——_ Le ao 


(See Pages 110, 234.) 











L. B. KENT. 
(See Pages 70, 104, 203, 206, 225, 350.) 


A VISION OF DEEP SOLEMNITY. 97 


the scribes and the Pharisees—hurried to see him; he, the 
glorious forerunner of their great Messiah, filled from 
his birth with the Holy Ghost. His words were full of 
burning power, with one message for all alike—‘ Re- 
pent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

Herod, Judea’s king, comes and hears him gladly, 
and does many things because of him; but the Baptist, 
no respecter of persons, knows just where the bosom- 
sin of Herod lies; he knows that the woman he calls 
his wife, by the law of God is the wife of another man; 
but he, refusing to repent, stains his own hands with 
the blood of the holy prophet. 

The Holy Spirit comes, like another John the 
Baptist, and convicts—lets the light fall on the sinner’s 
heart, and many, like the young man in the gospel, go 
away sorrowing at the sacrifice involved. “And now 
also the axe is laid at the root of the tree.” A sister 
at the Springfield camp-meeting lay for hours, one 
Sabbath-day, under the mighty power of God, as He 
revealed to her that awful place of punishment, that 
lake of fire. She said: “I saw it, and the vast multi- 
tude were headed that way. They would come where 
they could see it, and would look and ponder. Now 
and then one would repent, turn from a life of sin, and 
start for heaven; but most would go on as before. I 
would hear shrieks of fearful agony as they would fall 
into that lake of fire.” Our preachers may cease to 
preach it, and they do it at the awful peril of their own 
souls; but it is there; the Baptist preached it; the 
Savior preached it; the apostles preached it; and you 
must destroy the Word of God itself to take from it 
the teachings that there is this awful place of punish- 
ment for the unsaved. As I went in to see this lady, 
she threw her arms around me and said: “O Sister 
Cooke, you must preach hell as you never have, for I 
have seen it!” 

We must work with the Spirit in bringing convic- 
tion to the hearts of the people. ‘When He shall 
come He shall reprove of sin, of righteousness and of 


~ rf i etl Me’ 
: 2 Se ae eee 
> . % y oe 


98 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. ad 





judgment.” Talking to an unsaved man the other day, © 
on the willingness of the Lord to save, and His love 
for souls, I remarked that I did not think there were 
many days together when the Lord did not convict 
and speak to the sinner; and he said he did not think 
so either. 


I was so impressed by some thoughts of Caughey 
“on this subject. He says: ‘O that dreadful future: 
how suddenly and shadowy does it pass before the 
imagination, like the shadow ofa floating cloud over 
the fields, but too transitory to allow you time for 
measurement. It is gone and leaves no trace behind, 
save in the recollection of the beholder. It is thus 
that the shadows of the miseries of an eternal future 
pass and repass over the human mind and haunt it to 
the last moment of its connection with the body. They 
come involuntarily, and, like the shadows, too, from 
the passing clouds—come more on some days than 
others. ae 

‘But from whence come these fleeting shadows of a 
miserable future as within the bounds of an awful ~~ 
possibility? And what do they indicate? They come 
from eternity. They come from God. They indicate 
the path of duty, of wisdom, of safety. They indicate 
a substance, a reality, as all shadows do. The reality, 
an awful perdition to come, thus represents itself, thus 
interposes itself and its terrible shadows between us 
and the light that shines from Calvary. It follows or 
attends upon the doctrines of Calvary, and imparts to 
them a terrible significance. They indicate a period 
when ‘the prophesying in part shall be done away,’ 
when we shall know of heaven, and know of hell, as 
certainly and assurely as the angels do ; the time when 
we shall see the heaven we have lost or won, or the hell 
we have escaped, or into which we have plunged.” The 
Lord working with theminevery part of the way, in 
bringing sinners back to God, Bishop Taylor says: “I 
have long since left off making plans of my own. I 
watch His leadings in everything I do.” 


v7 


a 


SAVED FROM SUICIDE. 99 


The door to the human heart, as well as into every 
field of labor, is sometimes opened to us very unex- 
pectedly and in strange places. Miss Marsh, daughter 
of a clergyman in England, a devoted Christian anda 
great worker among the railroad men, was one day 


_ passing down one of the streets of one of our great 


English cities, when she was strangely impressed to 
repeat aloud, ‘‘ There isa river the streams whereof 
make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the 
tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of 
her ; she shall not be moved ; God shall help her and 
that right early.” She yielded to the impression, 
believing it was of God. 

Two weeks after, at a public meeting, a man 
addressed her, asking if she remembered on sucha day, 
on such a street, repeating those words. ‘I was pass- 
ing you at the time,” he said, “‘on my way to the river to 
end my life. I was in such difficulties I could see no 
way out; but your words gave me hope and I turned 
back, and the Lord has helped me.” How their hearts 
mingled in mutual joy. 

After the close of the last camp-meeting at Rens- 
selaer, Ind., I was on the train on my way to Chicago. 
Our train was due at 8 o’clock, but about six we came 
to a sudden halt. After a time of suspense we learned 
the cause. A freight train had been wrecked, and we 
must wait until the track could be cleared, which would 
take some hours. I looked up tothe Lord for strength 
and grace, and then told my fellow-passengers that I 
had just come from a camp-meeting where the Lord 
had been very present to bless ; and, as we were likely 
to be so long delayed, I asked if they would not like to 
fillthe time by holding a meeting. No one replied, 
though there was a look of surprise, not unmingled 
with interest, on most faces. Then, remarking that I 
could not sing, I asked if some one would start one of 
the old familiar hymns, ‘‘ Rock of Ages,” or “ Jesus, 
Lover of my Soul.” Still there was no response. 
“Well, then,” I asked, “shall we tell our experience 


100 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


and have aclass-meeting?” A lady, whose voice I had 
heard in very animated conversation most of the jour- 
ney, said : ‘‘We are not all Methodists ; I am a Jewess, 
and my husband and son-in-law, who are with me, are 
both Jews.” Soon the conversation was on the all- 
important theme—‘“ The Messiah.” Was our Jesus 
Christ their long-looked-for Messiah? She said, “ No, 


1, aS — 


He was not.” She was well-read, and very intelligent, - 


and the conversation soon became of absorbing inter- 
est. We went to the law and to the testimonies, and to 
their own Bible ; we could surely know from its sacred 
pages all the truth. And from Genesis*to Malachi 
came the proof. O the Scriptures glowed with light. 
All the prophecies were fulfilled in Him. What meant 
their long banishment from their own land ; their beauti- 
ful temple laid in ruins—His own prophesyings so ex- 
actly fulfilled? Now and then a stranger would put in, 
helping mewhen any difficulty would arise through 
my not understanding the Hebrew language. 


It might have been ten o’clock when some one pro- 
posed that we should try and take some rest, as it was 
not likely that we should get into the city before 
morning ; so weall made the best arrangements we 
could for sleeping. Almost as soon as day dawned, 
this Jewess was leaning over me, renewing the conver- 
sation. It may be that never, until “ I see Him as He 
- is, and am changed into His very image,” shall I more 
fully realize His help and presence than on that night. 
I could see that she was deeply moved; the light of 
the Sun of Righteousness was shining through that 
dark veil of unbelief, and it was passing away. Will 
she bow in lowly submission at His feet and crown our 
Redeemer “Lord of all?” Perhaps we will never 
know, on the shores of time. 

“Whom resist, steadfast in the faith!”—advice, 
counsel, given to every child of God. ‘‘ We wrestle 
not,” said the apostle,.in writing to the Ephesians, 
‘against flesh and blood, but against principalities and 


powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places”’— 


A REMINISCENCE OF BILLY BRAY. Iot 


subtle, invincible, save as we are armed by the power 
of God to resist and overcome. 

Reading, lately, the life of Billy Bray, I found it 
helpful to trace the way in which he gained such won- 
derful victories and maintained a life of such joyful, 
triumphant faith in God; such daily victories over ‘the 
world, the flesh, and the devil.” One night he had to 
pass a coal-shaft where some miners had lately been 
killed. It brought up the superstitious belief of his 
people, that passing a place at night where anyone had 
been lately killed their ghost would surely appear. 


_With considerable apprehension he passed the shaft 


without the spirit appearing; but as he came near toa 
bridge he had to cross, just as he put his foot on it, the 
thought came forcibly to his mind that the devil him- 
self would meet him on that bridge. This thought 
thoroughly aroused him, and he exclaimed: ‘The 
devil! Whoishe? What can he do? The devilisa 
fallen angel. He was turned out of heaven by God; 
he is held now in chains! I am Billy Bray—God is my 
heavenly Father. Why should I fear the devil?” 

Strong in the consciousness that God was his de- 
fence, he continued, as if addressing a visible foe: 
“Come on, thou devil; I fear thee not. Come on, Lu- 
cifer and all devils. Come on, old ones and young 
ones. Come on, black ones and blue ones, fiery and 
red ones. Come on, devil, and all thy ugly hosts. 
Come on; Billy Bray fears you not.” Then, feeling 
himself a conqueror, he began to sing: 


‘Jesus, the name high over all 
In hell, or earth, or sky; 
Angels and men before it fall, 
And devils fear and fly.” 


Then followed a time of leaping, and dancing, and 
praising God, who had again given him the victory. 

Billy Bray was a man of one book—his all-sufficient 
guide, the Bible. Joy in the Holy Ghost was the staple 
of his daily life. ‘If they would put me in a barrel, I 


102 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


would still shout glory through the bung-hole,” he 
would say. As he walked the streets, he says, ‘one 
foot would say glory! and the other hallelujah!” What 
was the secret of this amazing joy, this constant com- 
munion? Obedience; a life wholly given to God—a 
miner, working eight hours in his mine, and devoting 
another eight to the cause of God; with his own hands 
helping to build three meeting-houses; preaching three | 
times on the Sabbath, and often walking from ten to 
fifteen miles. No wonder the well of water was spring- 
ing up in his soul continually. 


My Dear Jessie: I take up my pen, this morning, - 
to tell you of my deep conviction of the harm of novel- 
reading. No tongue can tell, to the fullest extent, the 
mischief that sensational literature is doing to-day. A 
thorough novel-reader is almost as much intoxicated as 
an opium-eater, and lives in a world of unrealities; the 
every-day surroundings of life to all such are tame and 
uninteresting. An ungodly father, with only one daugh- 
ter, said that she should be put under no restrictions 
about her reading; she should choose for herself. He 
did not want her to be bigoted and narrow-minded. As 
the daughter advanced to womanhood, she became all 
absorbed in novel-reading; all her mind taken up with 
the imaginary scenes they depicted. Believing herself- 
a heroine, able to take some high position in life, the 
common duties of her daily life became irksome, and 
her course downward. Infatuating dreams of sinful 
pleasures, created largely by novel-reading, made her 
an easy prey to the seducer. Virtue gone, infamy and 
disgrace followed; soon a broken heart, an early grave, 
and two infants left to perpetuate her shame; while the 
unhappy father, struck with palsy, lingered awhile and 
then sunk with sorrow into the grave. 

Then about as pernicious an evil, and a growing 
one, is the reading of newspapers—the incessant love of 
news, until, like the Athenians of old, multitudes spend 
all their leisure time and thoughts ‘in hearing or telling 
some new thing,” the mind filled, most of the time, with 





THE BIBLE THE BEST BOOK. 103 


what is evil, and only evil. No father, no mother, with 
good judgment would allow any one to come into their 
house and tell their children or themselves what the 
daily newspapers are filled with. Nothing to elevate, 
nothing to refine; nothing to prepare the mind for that 
great future lying just before us—as little recognition 
of God, in most ordinary newspapers, as if He did not 
exist. 

Do you say: “‘ We must have something to enliven 
and interest.” O there is plenty, plenty. History is 
full of scenes of all-absorbing interest. Biographies 
of the good and noble are wonderfully helpful and 
instructive. And, best of all, the Bible. One writer 
has said of it: “It is a monument of the purest and 
best of the English language. The boys and girls who 
from childhood have been familiar with the music of 
the Psalms, with the magnificent imagery of Isaiah, 
with the poetry of Job, with the touching simplicity of 
the gospel narrative, have laid the firmest foundation 
for mental culture. This is the greatest source of moral 
and literary culture that a child can have. The verses 
learned in childhood, or studied for their literary value 
in youth, will come back in some hour of joy or sorrow 
fraught with a new meaning of comfort and inspira- 
tion.” It opens up forever its endless teachings, from 
the first dawn of reason, until the greatest, fullest intel- 
lects revel in the grandeur of its thoughts; still they are 
beyond them. 

For more than forty years the Bible has been my * 
daily study, and if another forty were added, it would 
ever be pouring fresh light upon my way, and opening 
up its rich treasures to my heart and mind. 

Did you ever think of how King David loved and 
reverenced the Word of God? You will find that he 
almost exhausts language to tell of his deep affection 
for it. Listen to him: ‘Thy word have I taken fora 
heritage forever.” ‘JI am wiser than the ancients, be- 
cause I love Thy law.” ‘I have esteemed the words of 
Thy mouth more than my necessary food.” “ More 


<we ee ee | 
Soe ae 
* “g 
= a 


104 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” And _ 
these holy men of old had only a small part of it, very 
little compared to what we have. Isaiah burst out, un- 
der the inspiration of the Spirit: ‘The grass wither- 
eth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall 
stand forever.” And, ‘To the law and to the testimony; 
if they speak not according to this word, it is because 
there is no light in them.” 
Yours, in Jesus’ love, 
SaraH “A. COOKE. 


As I was helping Brother Kent in a meeting at 
Warsaw, Indiana, two ladies rose and left the service 
during his preaching. I felt a strong prompting to fol- 
low them. Bro. K. noticed my rising and said: “Do 
not be gone long, Sister Cooke,” wondering, I suppose, 
at my leaving. I overtook them just before they were 
leaving the grounds, and found they were both under 
deep conviction. We sat down and talked together, and 
after a little persuasion they both returned to the meet- 
ing. The altar-service had commenced, and it was not 
long before one of them felt the joys of salvation, and 
in less than an hour the other was saved. How safe it. 
is to obey the leadings of God’s Spirit! 

“All power in heaven and in earth is given unto 
Me.” ‘Look up; the time of your redemption draw- 
eth nigh.” Over sinand death our Jesus is a conqueror. 
The sin you have so struggled against, year in and year 
out, you shall, through Jesus, conquer. He lives; yea, - 
He says: “Iam He that liveth and-was dead, and am 
alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of 
death.” Come, ye bound ones—bound like that bent 
woman in the Bible, lo, these many years—at His word 
you shall be loosed. See, see, right out under the blue 
canopy of heaven, a preacher is calling sinners to repent- 
ance. Hark how he tells in tender tones of the love 
which brought from heaven the Son of God, of His 
willingness to save even the dying thief. A highway 
robber has joined the great throng; his heart is touched. 
O how the preacher urges the sinners to come; the arms 


FOLLOWING THE DIVINE PATTERN. 105 


of Jesus are open to all. Bless the Lord, the arrow of 
conviction pierced that rebel’s heart, the love of God 
melted it, and in a little while Thomas Oliver took his 
place in beseeching sinners to come to Jesus, and he 
soon became a prince in the Israel of God. Is not His 
power as mighty now as when Paul journeyed to Da- 
mascus? Yes, Jesus is just the same; eighteen hundred 
years have not diminished His love or His wonderful 
power to save. 

“Offer unto God the sacrifice of joy.’ Wow few 
Christians have joy to offer! Grief, sadness, mourn- 
ing—no clear, deep wells of salvation. ‘The living 
water,” so surely promised by the Savior, has been 
stopped. When God would give Moses particular 
directions about the building of the tabernacle, and 
about its worship, He gave the caution: ‘See that thou 
make it according to the pattern shown thee on the 
mount.” No room was left for his own reasonings or 
preferences in the matter. When the Lord led me into 
the experience of holiness, He gave me my pattern; 
clothing not only plain, but common and cheap; and 
so. I followed the pattern shown me on the mount, 
until the temptation came so plausibly. The common 
black straw bonnet was about worn out, when the 
thought came to make one out of a rich velvet jacket 
that was of no use, and it would, the tempter said, cost 
less than buying a common straw one. How I rea- 
soned, as I made it, about the costly apparel. But the 
first time I put it on, the Lord spoke to me in His own 
words: ‘Now is the offence of the cross ceased.” 
Worldly relatives said that it looked respectable and 


‘genteel; but the offence of the cross had ceased, and 


with it the joy had gone. For two months I could not 
look up and say: 


“Not a cloud doth arise to darken my skies, 
Or hide for one moment the Lord from mine eyes.” 


I never shall forget the day it was laid aside, and 
the plain straw bonnet put on again, and the thrilling 


106 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


joy that came back to my soul. “To obey is better 
than sacrifice.” 

O how thousands of Christians reason away their 
convictions; not God’s will, but my own be done. The 
beloved disciple, he who had leaned on the bosom of 
his Lord, has recorded: “ The lust of the flesh, the lust 
of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, 
but of the world;” and “the world passeth away and 
the fashion of it.” ‘These are such little things,” the 
unwilling heart will reason; ‘God does not notice these 
little things.” O yes, He does; “not a sparrow falleth 
to the ground without your heavenly Father.” 

I have sometimes noticed on trees a little branch 
having leaves on it, so covered by a thin spider’s web 
that the air and dew had been excluded, and every 
leaf was withered. - So a little disobedience breaks the 
communion between us and God, and the sweet, fresh, 
spiritual joy will die out of our hearts. 

“Watch,” was our Lord’s command; and “what I 
say unto one, I say unto all, watch; and pray lest ye 
enter into temptation.” ‘It includes,” says Wesley, 
““an earnest, constant, persevering, exercise of stead- 
fast ‘faith, patient hope, laboring love, unceasing 
prayer.” : : 

THE SUN-BRIGHT CLIME. 

Few may have read this beautiful song, composed 
by the Rev. John Scotford. It was a wonderful favor- 
ite with Dr. Redfield; but he would ever say that it 
was incomplete. When he was just nearing the glori- 
ous company, a friend was called up very early one 
morning to pen from his lips three additional verses. 


1 Have you heard, have you heard of that sun-bright 
clime, : 
Undimmed by sorrow, unhurt by time, 
Where age hath no power o’er the fadeless frame, 
Where the eye is fire, and the heart is flame,— 
Have you heard of that sun-bright clime? 


2 A river of water gushes there, 
’*Mid flowers of beauty, strangely fair, 


=. aC 


i ail os i 





THE SUN-BRIGHT CLIME. 107 


And a thousand wings are hovering o’er 
The dazzling wave, and the golden shore, 
That are seen in that sun-bright clime. 


3 Millions of forms, all clothed in light, 
In garments of beauty, clean and white, 
They dwell in their own immortal bowers, 
’Mid fadeless hues of countless flowers, 
That bloom in that sun-bright clime. 


.4 Ear hath not heard, and eye hath not seen, 


Their swelling songs or their changeless sheen; 
Their ensigns are waving, and banners unfurl 
O’er jasper walls, and gates of pearl 

That are fixed in that sun-bright clime. 


5 But far, far away is that sinless clime, 

Undimmed by sorrow, unhurt by time, 

Where amid all things that are fair is given, 

The home of the saved, and its name is heaven, 
The name of that sun-bright clime. 


6 But far, far above that countless throng, 

I hear the notes of a louder song; 

"Twas out of great distress they came, 

Washed in the blood of yonder Lamb, 
Who reigns in that sun-bright clime. 

7 Prophets, apostles, martyrs, all, 

From mountain cave, from lion’s stall, 

From Hebrew’s furnace, flaming fire, 

Raised by that whirling chariot higher, 
To range through that sun-bright clime. 

8 Ten thousand thousand, thousand more, 

From every age, from every shore, 

Who suffered till the war was o’er, 

With God shut in forever more 

~ To dwell in that sun-bright clime.” 


Who has not been interested in reading of the 
Egyptians embalming the bodies of their loved ones? 
That art is lost, and it is of but little consequence; but 
the memory of those who “walked with God,” and 
served their own generation, is a legacy for all time. 


“The righteous shall be had in everlasting remem- 


brance,” and “being dead, they yet speak” words of 


108 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


hallowed wisdom. In traveling, I often meet with 
Christians of deep experience, who received their first 
religious light, especially on holiness, through the lives 
and writings of Wesley, Carvosso, Bramwell, Fletcher, 
Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. H. A. Rogers, and others, whose 
instruction is so clear, so practical. They lived it, and 
their words came with power. I know of no books, 
outside of the Bible, like these autobig gaa I 
copy a few gems from Rev. Mr. Bramwell: : 

“T could write it twenty times over to you, that it 
is continual prayer, with strong faith, which will pro- 
duce every effect. You know how many slide back in 
the necessary ordinances; some by improper hearing, 
some by improper prayers, some in singing, many in 
sacraments. The eye is taken from God, and a want 
of prayer runs through all the means; hence we are 
neither cold nor hot. O my dear brother, be alive; be 
a man of God; be in the Spirit; be a flame of heavenly 
fire; burn, yea, burn for God and'‘souls.” 

‘Be all on your watch; suspect everything that 
does not present the meek and lowly Jesus. Have 
nothing but what He holds forth to you. Receive all 
by Christ and from Christ. Be satisfied in having 
Him for your all. Be clear in full salvation without a 
doubt. You will then produce deep convictions in | 
others. I want you to live fully, to live forever, to 
live in all the glory, and to be changed into it more 
and more. The Lord seal these things upon your 
heart. Amen! Iam receiving more love; it comes by 
drops, after agony of prayer. My soul becomes less 
than ever, but God is all I want at all times.” 

‘“To dwell in God is our place while on earth; and 
this is perpetuated by acts of faith. Faith realizes the 
glory; for though we cannot see, yet we see all things 
in believing; make all that He is our own, and feel all 
the happy effects on the mind. Thus faith changes us 
more and more; we are taken up in the fullest union. 
Hid with Christ in God; ready, and always waiting to 
leave this body, that we may be clothed upon with our 


vr, 


UNPROFITABLE MINISTERS. 109 


house in heaven. Glorious company! Glorious place! 
Come, Lord Jesus!” 

lio Mire Wigston, May 25,1815: You know, I 
have been about three months in the furnace; the mys- 
tery of God! I know not now. I cannot find it out, 
but I know He was with me. The glory I experienced 
was beyond all I can now relate. I was filled with 
mercy. I could have shouted continually, yet I never 
had so clear a view of the torments of the damned. It 
was shown me, most clearly, that the terrors of the 
law are not attended to in our preaching as much as is 
necessary; and you may depend upon it, this is one 
cause of our leanness.~ The world must be sick; they 
must feel the need of Christ. O what a view of this in 
my sickness! It was also made more plain to me that 
a full salvation through Christ is ever near those who 
hunger; His blood can cleanse; this is the song of 
heaven.” 





My Dear FRrRiEnD: You speak-.of our preachers 
being so poorly supported, and of the necessity, often, 
of their working at manual labor to support themselves. 
The question hinges here: ‘‘ Have they been called of 
God to the work of the ministry?” So many, I believe, 
are in that sacred office who have never been thus 
called, and are entirely unfitted for it; having but little 
natural ability—zo love of study!—no zeal!—no energy! 
—xno all-constraining love for souls! and, of course, prove 
a failure, utterly, in the work of the Lord. But others 
we know have had the call from the Lord. Did you 
ever notice the words of our Lord: ‘“ Pray ye the Lord 
of the harvest, that he would send more laborers”? A 
dear brother, whose whole soul was drawn out in the 
work of the Lord, would invariably add, ‘ Laborers. 
my Lord, not gentlemen; we have plenty of them.” 

One of our missionaries in Sweden, Bro. Ulness, 
says: ‘ We were in some need, and I thought I would 
help out by fishing; but some way it did not answer, 
and the Lord told me if I would devote myself wholly 


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110 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


to His work He would take care of us, and He has.” 
Better, far better, for a man to be honestly laboring for 
his daily bread, and for those belonging to him, than 
to waste his time as so many do. No mechanic, no 
laborer, no professional man, could make a success of 
his business, or meet his obligations, if three parts of 
the time he was just hanging around his home, etc., etc. 
Oh no! Does a preacher’s holy engagements leave him 
thus idle? Are there not the unsaved in every neigh- 
borhood, outside of any church? If he treads closely 
in his Master’s footsteps, as a man upon whom is the 
seal of ‘holiness unto the Lord,” ‘a light in the world,” 
he will soon be known for miles around. His hands 
will be full, his heart too, and, caring for the souls of 
the people, they will care for his bodily wants. 


Our blessed Bro. Dake said, in a love-feast: “The 
Lord told me to sell all I had and to preach His gos- 
pel. I have never, in four years, bought a coat, vest, 
pants, or shoes, but have lacked nothing.” No, no! 
“My God shall supply all your needs.” “TE aman will 
not work,” says the apostle, ‘neither shall he eat.” 
Does not this apply to the laborers in God’s work, as 
well as to the work of one’s hands? I believe it does. 
The diligent soul shall be made fat, and he that water- 
eth others shall be himself watered. 

Then much prayer must mingle with all the work. 
When Bro. Dake visited Sweden he would be early on the 
lake-shore, pouring out his full heart to God. His voice 
would rise higher, as his soul would be drawn out in 
earnest, longing desires for the work. The people 
could not understand, but would feel the hallowed influ- 
ence and tremble under it. Prayer and faith in God - 
will make the wilderness blossom like the garden of 
the Lord. It was said of Bramwell, no matter how 
unpromising the circuit he was sent to, how torn up by 
divisions, he took hold of God by the mighty arms of 
faith and prayer, and the kingdom of Satan began to 
crumble before him. Fervent in prayer, first; then lov- 
ing and tender in preaching, and, when need be, terrific 





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CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE EVANGELISTS. lit 


im his declarations of the laws of God against sin and 
its awful consequences; nor less faithful and true in in- 


-cessant visitations from house to house. He would 


often visit and pray in fifteen houses in one day. 

How many of our preachers are half-sick, weak, 
nervous, unblessed, and no blessing to the churches? 
Much of the secret is right here. The love and favor 
of God is not resting upon them, because of unfaith- 
fulness. 

Moving among them so much, I know what I affirm 
is the truth. 

Yours, in Jesus’ precious love, 
SaRAH A. COOKE. 


CHAPTER XI. 


DwELt ine in the life and light of love, if light is 
in excess of love, it will cause such harshness, even in 
our zeal to lead men to God, as to produce in them 
hatred for us and our well-meant labors in their behalf. 
Rev. Henry Venn, co-worker with Wesley and Whit- 
field, on his son’s entering the ministry, wrote to him: 
‘‘Look upon your people as persons under condemna- 
tion, for whose pardon and recovery you ought to feel 
as a tender mother for her children. Lament an un- 
feeling heart in yourself, as well asinthem. Beg earn- 


_estly that you may long after their salvation. Cultivate 


a deep sense of your own unworthiness, necessary to 
make you speak with consciousness of your poverty 
and ignorance, necessary to lay hold on Christ, and find 
in Him all you need for acceptance, strength, comfort 
and usefulness; necessary to make you take pains and 
give yourself wholly to the work—that your profiting 
may appear to all.” 

On this fatal rock of unfeeling harshness how many 
of God’s anointed preachers of the gospel have been 


112 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


wrecked, or suffered irreparable loss! Christmas Evans, 
the Welsh preacher, so mightily baptized with the Holy 
Ghost and fire, tells us that in his early ministry his 
soul, on this line, suffered great loss. He once drifted 
into the barren highlands of controversy. He says: 
“I left preaching the glorious and grand gospel in all 
its simplicity, its awful nature, its universal hold on the 
human heart—the glorious remedy-—Christ, the One 
offering, the all-sufficient atonement for the sins of a 
lost world—to strike without love at all errors, as I 
thought, of the people. This so affected me as to 
quench the spirit of prayer for the conversion of sin- 
ners. I lost the strength which clothed my mind with 
zeal, confidence and earnestness in the pulpit for the 
conversion of souls to Christ. My heart retrograded. 
Sabbath-nights, after having been during the day ex- 
posing and vilifying, with all bitterness, the errors that 
prevailed; my conscience felt hurt, and reproached me 
‘that I had lost that nearness to and walking with God. 
It would intimate that something exceedingly precious 
was now wanting in me. My soul, under this influence, 
became as dry as the mountains of Gilboa;” but the time 
of deliverance came. In a covenant with God, he 
asked: ‘Grant me the favor of being led by Thee 
according to Thy will, by the directions of Thy provi- 
dence and Word, by the disposing of my own mind by 
Thy Spirit, for the sake of Thine infinitely precious 
blood. Grant Thy blessing upon bitter things, to 
brighten and quicken me more and more, and not to 
depress and make more lifeless.” The Savior conde- 
scended to enter into fresh covenant with him; and, filled 
-with His own tenderness and love, all Wales, under 
his preaching, was moved as by the breath of the Lord. 
People would fall by hundreds as he preached the won- 
derful truths. These precious times were preceded by 
mighty wrestlings with the Angel of the Covenant. As 
a prince, he had power with God and prevailed. _ 


‘“And on each He putteth 
His own secret seal.” 


LIVING EPISTLES, KNOWN OF ALL MEN. 113 


‘“And His name shall be in their foreheads.” You 
do not need tobe told of some people, “they are 
Christians,” the mark is so undeniably fixed upon 
them. As they walk on the streets, as you meet them 
in their homes, everywhere alike, you recognize they 
are the Lord’s. 


At one of the Illinois camp-meetings, some years 
ago, I met one of these heaven-marked ones, a saint of 
the most high God. She was quite aged, having 
passed, I should think, the allotted three-score and ten, 
and yet, one day, as the glory of the Lord touched her, 
like David she danced before the ark of the Lord. 
One morning, at our love-feast, she gave this testi- 
mony: ‘I was living in the country with my family, in 
the world and unsaved, when the Holy Spirit began to 
convict, to show me my lost condition. I could get 
no peace. I had been brought up in the Presbyterian 
church, but there were no Presbyterians in our neigh- 
borhood. But there was a Methodist church, and one 
night I went. In the middle of the service the Lord 
so impressed me to get up and sing a hymn that I 


-could not resist, and I obeyed; the light came into my 


soul, and my sins were all forgiven. Soon I joined the 
church, and as I read the Discipline, I found that the 
Friday before quarterly meeting was to be observed 
as a day of fasting and prayer; and.so when that day 
came I prepared the breakfast for the family, but did 
not partake of it myself. My eldest boy hada good 
deal to say about it; ‘‘a foolish woman, a foolish 
woman,” he exclaimed. When they were through, and 


’ I went to wash the dishes, I had taken the water from 


the cistern, but that smelled so foul, I threw it out and 
drew some from the well and it seemed so pure; and 
the Lord said to me: ‘A religion without self-denial and 
sacrifice is to Me just like that cistern-water is to you.’ ” 
As we heard of her on that camp-ground—what a burn- 
ing and shining light she was!—I felt that was the way 
and that alone; Christ first, and self and the body 
second; that in all things He should have the pre- 





114 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


eminence; as necessary now, as in the days of early 
Christianity, to keep the body. under, lest we, too, 
might be castaways. When the disciples had seen 
that wonderful sight on the Mount of Transfiguration; 
when they beheld His glory, and their eyes had gazed 
on the two great leaders of God’s Israel, Moses and 
Elijah; yetcoming down from that wonderful scene 
and meeting the father with the poor devil-possessed 
boy, they could not cast out the devil; but as the Sav- 
ior came along, and the man appealed to Him, the 
work was done. ‘Why could we not cast hira out?” 
they asked. Mark the answer: “This kind goeth not 
out but by prayer and fasting.” 

And are not many cases of lunacy, to-day, just like 
those when our Savior was on earth—simply possessed 
with the devil? One such case came to my knowledge 
at a camp-meeting, some years ago. A man, witha 
countenance awfully dark, accused another man of 
being the cause of hindrance to the camp-meeting, 
and then told him to come out and show himself to the 
people. With all the simplicity of a little child, the 
accused stood up and faced the congregation, his pure- 
looking face convincing every one that there was no 
evilin that heart. Then the accuser fell to the ground, 
and round and round that altar he glided like a serpent; 
bringing to our minds the words of God to the ser- 
pent after the fall: ‘‘On thy belly shalt thou go.” 
All through the night we could hear the unearthly 
sounds, as from the man among the tombs. Soon 
after sunrise, one morning, there came a message for 
us to go to his home; he had been most violent all 
night. I proposed that we go fasting ; but the leader 
objected, and we all sat down to breakfast. When we 
reached the house, we found that, wearied with the 
- frenzy of the night, he had laid down on the bed, and 
seemed scarcely to know we were there, and we 
seemed to have no power to cast out the devil. Ina 
little while, we heard of him in the insane asylum. 


Iam often impressed, on a Sabbath morning, to fast; 


K 


lead 


WA 
a 


CHRISTIANS SUBJECT TO MARTYRDOM. 115 


it seems to bring added power for the services of the day. 
The power that came to the early disciples is the same 
that comes to us to-day, and comes inthe same way. Je- 
sus is the same, the human heart the same, and, for aught 
that we know, the devil’s power is the same in the heart 
of the people. Coming home, one morning, from the 
Sabbath sérvice, at our dinner-table there were three 
unsaved men ; two were Scotchmen, knowing well the 
Scriptures, but unsaved. JI soon found out where they 
stood, and was drawn out to talk to them with great 
freedom of the things belonging to the kingdom of 
God. I soon noticed that every one had finished din- 
ner, while mine was almost untouched, nor did I feel 
the least need of food. And the scene came up before 
me of Jesus by the well of Sychar, and how, as the dis- 
ciples joined Him, they said: ‘‘ Hath any man brought 
Him aught toeat?” And Hesaid: “I have meat to 
eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of 
Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.” More 
refreshing was it to Him to draw that soul unto Him- 
self, than to take food. 

See! see! they are hurrying a man from Jerusalem 
—a tumultuous crowd. What has he done? He has 
only preached Jesus, but they are cut to the heart and 
will not yield. He has been a witness for Jesus, and 
has brought before them their guilt in slaying that 
just man, and they gnash on him with their teeth; 
but to Stephen the heavens are opened, and he sees 
the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand. 

What to him, is the rage of that infuriated mob? 


- The stones are falling thick; the man who breathed out 


threatenings and slaughter, and who is soon to be the 
leader of God’s host, is there; and as they stone Ste- 
phen, love to God and love to men fills his soul. 
“ Lord Jesus,” he cries, ‘‘ receive my spirit;” and then, 
breathing out the love of his soul for his murderers: 
“Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!” 

“The glorious company of martyrs praise Thee;” 
this is the first of the glorious company. The same 


116 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. : = 


spirit is abroad through our land to-day. The Salva- 
tion Army had landed at Battle Creek, Mich. The 
devil was stirred, and determined they should have no 
foothold there. After they were thrown into a stream 
of water, three of them left, but one remained. He 
was put into prison, dragged through the filth of the 
street, his face covered with mud; but he still glorified 
God, and, taking his stand on the sidewalk, he 
preached ‘“‘the unsearchable riches of Christ;” and as 
he talked the glory of God shone on him, and three 
thousand people gazed in wonder on that face, shining ~ 
as did the face of Moses when he came down from the 
mount of God. 


“Is not Thy grace as mighty now 
As when Elijah felt its power; 
When glory beamed from Moses’ brow, 
Or Job endured the trying hour?” 


AN EXPERIENCE OF PRESIDENT EDWARDS. 


“Once, as I rode out in the woods, in 1737, I had 
a view that to me was extraordinary of the glory of 
the Son of God as mediator between God and man, 
and His wonderful, sweet, great, full grace, love, and . 
meek, gentle compassion. The person of Christ 
appeared ineffably excellent, an excellence great 
enough to swallow all thought and conception; which 
manifestation continued, I should judge, about an 
hour, keeping me for the greatest part of the time in a 
flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency 
of soul to be (I know not otherwise how to ex- 
press it,) emptied and annihilated; to be in the dust, 
and full of Christ alone; to love Him with a holy and 
pure love; to trust Him and live upon Him; to serve 
and follow Him; to be perfectly sanctified, and made 
free with a divine and heavenly purity. I have several 
other times had views very much of the same nature, 
and which have had the same effect. God, in the com- 
munications of His Holy Spirit, has appeared as an 
infinite fountain of divine glory and sweetness; being 








A NIGHT OF TRIAL AND VICTORY. 117 


full and sufficient to fill and satisfy the soul; pouring 
itself in sweet communications like the sun in its 
glory, sweetly and pleasantly diffusing light and heat.” 


‘““I SEND YOU FORTH AS SHEEP AMONG WOLVES.” 


Never perhaps, until brought into circumstances 
where the words of the Lord Jesus meet exactly our 
own needs, do we understand their wonderful adapta- 
tion and fullness. Then the words He speaks “are 
spirit and life.” A little band of us (His disciples) 
were laboring in Lenawee County, Michigan. We had 
pitched our tent in a lumber region, where the people 
were rough and ungodly in the extreme. One even- 
ing, as soon as the service commenced, we saw evil 
was brooding, by the dark, defiant looks of the men 
who had gathered ina large crowd around us. Soon 
our voices were drowned by their yells. Closer and 
closer they pressed upon us; when our leader, Bro. 
Shaw, cried out, ‘Every one of you get down onyour 
knees and pray;” adding, in a lower voice, “they have 
already got one of our company, and if we do not hold 
on to God for him, they will tear him to pieces.” How 
the fervent, effectual prayer went up from our hearts 
into the ears of the Lord! 

The sight was appalling. Then came the assuring 
words of Jesus: “ Behold I send you forth as sheep in 
the midst of wolves.” No truer picture could have 
been drawn; they howled like wolves. Their teeth 
gleamed out like those of wolves as they gnashed 
upon us. 

A girl had been to our meetings, was awakened, 


and deeply interested, but her father had forbidden 


her coming to the tent; and a woman had come against 
the wishes of her husband. The devil had spread the 
news, through his children, throughout all that neighbor- 
hood, and about three hundred roughs, with hearts full 
of hatred, now surrounded us, incensed by the rumor 
that we were breaking up families. Yea, just in the 
way Jesus said His gospel should divide families. He 





ras. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


is the Prince of peace; yet when He comes and sets up 
His kingdom, the carnal heart is stirred, and a man’s" 
foes are they of his own household. No little flock of 
sheep or lambs could have looked more. helpless than 
did we that night. They seemed just ready to devour 
us. The scene became more and more fearful; when, 
above it all, came again the voice of the Lord: ‘ There 
shall not a hair of your head perish.” How vividly in 
that hour I seemed to see the martyrdom of Stephen 
—the gnashing of their teeth—the running onhim. But 
the God who hears and answers prayer spoke to those 
waves: ‘‘ Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” Grad- 
ually the tumult subsided, and the crowd dispersed, 
every man going to his own home, and we to our little 
tents, secure in the thought that the angel of the Lord 
was encamped around us. 


The dear brother who had been assaulted was 
roughly handled. His clothes were much torn, but 
not a bruise was on him. He said: “I felt they could 
-not harm me while you held on in prayer;” adding, 
“when their fists came down upon me they felt as soft 
as pads of velvet.’””’ One man, who had been greatly 
incensed against him on account of his fervent style of 
Holy Ghost religion, had threatened his life, and had 
used means that night to overturn his buggy. The 
next morning, as he mused on this threat, the Lord 
drew near and gave assurance of His protection, show- 
ing him that the enemy was no more in His hand than 
a stick he could break ina moment. May we not take 
up the language of the apostolic, devoted Wesley ?— 


“Shall I, for fear of feeble man, 
The Spirit’s course in me restrain? 
Or, undismayed in deed and word, 
Be a true witness of my Lord? 


Yea, let man rage; since Thou wilt spread 
Thy shadowing wings around my head; 
Since in all pain Thy tender love 

Will still my sure refreshment prove.” 


a a 


THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER. 119 


If possible, always before speaking in public, I 
love to get hold of God in prayer; audibly, in the 
congregation, as well as in private; on the street, as 
well as in a building. 

Reading in Mrs. Booth’s work on Godliness, I 
received increased light. She says: ‘I believe more 
people are convinced in real prayer than speaking. I 
have noticed this many times. I have seen ina hall, 
or theatre, a lot of the roughest men, behaving in the 
most unseemly manner, arrested by the influence of 
prayer ;-I have seen a woman stretch forth her hands 
and say : ‘Now let us pray,’ and I have watched the 
aspect of the congregation, and seen great rough-faced 
men get their heads down, and sometimes wipe tears 
from their eyes ; and when we got up to sing, there 
has been no more disorderly conduct. It was the 
Holy Ghost wrestling for those souls in the heart of 
that woman, that struck them with conviction.” 

“Prayer is agony of soul—wrestling.in the 
Spirit. You know how men and women deal with one 
another, when they are in desperate earnestness for 
something to be done. That is prayer, whether it be 
to man orGod; and when you get your heart influ- 
enced, and melted, and wrought up, and burdened by 
the Holy Ghost for souls, you will have the power, and 
you will never pray but some one will be convinced ; 
some darkened eyes will be opened, and spiritual life 
commence.” 

. “Tf any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it 


shall be given him.” How many years these words 
-have been like a sheet-anchor to my soul! Often, day 


by day, have I presented them at the mercy-seat. Life 
is like a kaleidoscope, its scenes ever changing. We 
are brought continually where wisdom is needed to say 
the right word, to do the right thing. I have often 
heard my brother-in-law say that on one occasion he 
had been visiting all day with some Quakers. They 
had seemed so wonderfully blessed in their visits, and 


ee es ee 
sts, 


120 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


he remarked, as they returned to the house where 
they were staying, it was wonderful how they had 
been guided that day. Then one of the Quakers said: 
“Not-at all, Brother Charles; did not we, before we 
started, ask the Lord to direct us? Our own wisdom, 
unaided, is an insufficient guide. Step by step, we 
venture to take the promises to Him, and believe for 
the fulfillment as we meet the conditions.” Often in 
connection with the Lord’s work would come the 
blessed exhortation: ‘‘ He that winneth souls is wise.” 
O we must press through all reasonings, all discourage- 
ments, with the promise. 


It was said of Finney, that the way in which he 
would hold on to God was startling ; wrestling in 
prayer untilthe Lord would seem to say unto him as 
unto one of old, “Great is thy faith ; be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt,” 

We must ever be traveling for supplies, rach our - 
own emptiness to His fullness, having no stock of our 
own to draw from. ‘“ His strength,” as to His inspired 
apostles, is ‘made perfect in weakness.” How few 
ever reach the heights Paul had attained when he could 
say: “ Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my 
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” 
never resting on the high plane of self-sufficiency ; 
how many, once great soul-winners, have reached 
these high and barren peaks? Staying at the home of 
a Presbyterian elder, he asked me one nighi to lead 
their prayer-meeting. As a Scripture lesson, I took 
the latter part of the fourth chapter of James. What 
revelations of that wisdom which cometh from above, 
which I had pleaded for so often, but never so com- 
pletely understood as then under the light of the 
Spirit, seemed to cover all the heights and depths of 
Christian experience. ‘ First, pure;” in motive, in act, 
in thought; ‘then peaceable ;” the contention all 
gone; the gentle, the lowly Lamb of Calvary the 
pattern ; ‘‘ full of good works ;” the open hand, the 
sympathizing heart; “ doing good to all men as ye have 





SEEKING WISDOM FROM GOD. 121 


2 


opportunity ;” without partiality ; ‘‘ no respecter of per- 
sons.” ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world 
kin.” ‘“ Without hypocrisy ;”’ no guile, no deception ; 
its culmination, its great tap-root, LOVE. 

With the light shining through the Word, how the 
holiest, the most successful, of God’s workers have 
drawn from this source. Wesley, in his introduction 
toa volume of sermons, speaks thus of the Bible: ‘“‘To 
candid, reasonable men, I am not afraid to lay open 
what have been the utmost thoughts of my heart. I 
have thought : I amacreature passing through life, 
as an arrow through the air; I ama spirit come from 
God, and returning to God, just hovering over the 
great gulf, till a few moments hence I drop into an 
unchanging eternity. I want to know one thing, the 
way to heaven ; how to land safe on that happy shore. 
‘God Himself has condescended to teach the way ; for 
this very end He came from heaven. He hath written 
it down ina book. At any price give me the Book of 
God! I have it; here is knowledge enough for me. 
Let me be aman of one book. Here then I am, far 
from the busy haunts of men ; I sit down alone; only 
God is here; in His presence I open and read His 
book, for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there 
a doubt concerning the meaning of what] read? Does 
anything appear dark and intricate? I lift up my 
heart to the Father of lights : Lord, is it not Thy word? 
‘Tf any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who 
giveth liberally and upbraideth not.’ Thou hast said: 
‘If any be willing to do My will, he shall know ;’ Iam 
willing to do, let me know Thy will. I then search 
after and consider parallel passages of Scripture ; com- 
paring spiritual things with spiritual, I meditate there- 
on with all the attention and earnestness of which my 
mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult 
those who are experienced in the things of God ; and 
then the writings, ‘whereby being dead, they yet 
speak, ’ and what I thus learn, that I teach.” 

If Wesley’s ransomed spirit could commune with 





122 WA YSIDE SKETCHES. 


all who bear the name of Methodist to-day, would he 
hear a loud ‘‘amen”’ to these teachings? Paul, in 
writing to ‘this son in the faith,” Timothy, two epistles 
(mines of inexhaustible wealth to every young preacher), 
says: ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the word of truth.” And again: “ Preach the 
Word.” 

We need not preach against infidelity; there is 
none of it real and honest. ‘The fool hath said in his 
heart there is no God,” and all his arguings, reasonings 
and sophistry will not prove it. Said the wife of a doc- 
tor to me: ‘I know most people know where they are 
going. I have been by many death-beds;” (her hus- 
band had a large practice in the country.) ‘“ We had,” 
she said, ‘a man who was lecturing around here and 
trying to persuade the people there was no hell. He 
was taken sick, and O the horrors of that scene! For 
three days he said he was in hell. He gnawed off the 
ends of his fingers in his agony.” The secret of all 
infidelity is plainly given by Paul in his letter to the 
Romans, “holding the truth in unrighteousness.” “The 
true Light hghteth every man that cometh into the 
world;” but “glorifying Him not as God, they became 
dark in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were 
darkened.” ‘I knew there was a God,” said a pro- 
fessed infidel, ‘‘ but I hated Him.” 

Said the statesman, John Randolph, when in the 
pride of his heart he tried to throw off all the restraints 
of religion, and all belief in it, ‘‘ Never could I, for one 
day, silence my heart’s testimony to the truth of the 
Word of God.” O to preach the truth as though it 
had a living hold on our own hearts! 

It is not the talent, but the unction that comes from 
close communion with Himself, that gives us power. 

The administration is the same, but what divers 
ways-the Lord has of working; what varied instru- 
ments; and we in our blindness would limit the Holy 
One of Israel, and say, with the disciples of old: “I 


CHOSEN INSTRUMENTS OF GOD. 123 


am of Paul; I am of Apollos; I am of Cephas;” all only 
ministers by whom you believe. ‘Christ is all and in 
all,” the vessels of clay merely used to convey the liv- 
ing water. The Galilean fishermen, with no organiza- 
tion to back them, without prestige, or learning, hated 
of men, ‘for His name’s sake,” established Christianity 
everywhere. Their feet trod in the footsteps of the 
Lord—in the power of His might. 

A monk of Germany, seeking everywhere for peace, 
but finding it not, trying scourgings and endless auster- 
ities, goes to Rome; and while climbing Pilate’s stair- 
case (which is said to have been transported from Jeru- 
salem by miracle), on his bare knees, he hears a voice 
in the depths of his soul saying: ‘ The just shall live 
by faith.” He anchors on the Rock of Ages, and ever 
afterwards knows nothing but Jesus and Him crucified, 
wanting no other guide but the Word of God, which 
liveth and abideth forever; and he is led out by the 
Lord in the glorious work of the Reformation. 


In later days, a Wesley and a Whitfield, whose 
large hearts could not be hampered and shut in by the 
iron rules of Episcopalianism, went through the length 
and breadth of the United Kingdom, and, like flaming 
heralds, carried the news of salvation. Then, as the 
churches grew worldly and conservative, and the great 
crowds seemed unchurched, uncared for, a Methodist 
preacher stands in the East of London trying to solve 


’ the question how these untold multitudes can be reached 


with the glad news of salvation. . The Master had said: 
“Go ye into the highways and hedges and compel 
them to come in;” and “I, if I be lifted up, will draw 
all men unto Me.” ‘How shall they hear without a 
preacher?” Noclothes fit to wear in our churches, and 
less of inclination, We must attract them. The fisher 
studies the fish, adapts himself to them. The people 
love music; he notices how they gather at the sound of 
songs; and soon on the streets and in the lowest parts 
of London William Booth and his band of workers 
draw multitudes of hearers. 


124 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


William Hawkins, of hallowed memory, before 
called of God to his life-work of preaching the gospel, 
was a merchant of high position. He went into one of 
the low parts of New York to preach in their mission; 


he heard the Master saying: ‘When I was upon the ~ 


earth I went among the lepers and touched-them.” O 
how humbled he felt, and he learned a lesson in that 


hour that was never forgotten. Heart must touch heart. 


Most preaching is far above the lower classes, touching 
no chord in their hearts. 


When William Booth was asked where he expected 
to get his helpers, pointing to the saloons, he said: 
“From such places as those.” Sir Walter Scott said: 
“Let me make a nation’s ballads, and I care not who 
makes its laws.” The sweet, tender songs would draw 
and hold the people. So thought Gen. Booth; hence 
the great prominence given to singing and varied music 
in Salvation Army work. Joyful songs, with thrilling 
music, will make men think there is a life and sweet- 
ness they knew nothing of. The hallelujahs that flowed 
from human lips on the streets of Jerusalem were 
echoed on the streets of London. The joyful testi- 


mony that came, all burning with love, from the lips of 


her who had met the Savior at the well of Sychar, 
‘“Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I 


did; is not this the Christ?” brought a whole crowd to’ 


His feet, and was continually repeated from those who 
had been forgiven much, and who loved much. In the 
Salvation Army, all that can be is laid*under tribute to 
swell and deepen the interest; the loud-sounding tim- 
brel, the violin and the drum to attract the passers-by; 
and all the glory of its wonderful success is laid at the 
feet of Him who so crowns it with His own blessing. 
In over thirty-five countries waves the banner of the 
Salvation Army. From one of its officers, a personal 
friend, the words are wafted from India: ‘ My heart 
bleeds for this dark land, for the sons and daughters of 
India. My life will be spent for them.” If ever a 
people in modern times understand and carry out the 


“Shot eae a 
‘° z Be “ 2 
ire ‘ 


z 


¥ 


THE WORK OF SALVATION IN INDIA. 125 


command of our Savior: ‘“ Be thou faithful unto death 
and I will give thee a crown of life,” it is the Salva- 
tionists. This frail, delicate woman was twice publicly 
whipped, assaulted by a mob of hundreds, as she, with 
her little band, went to open a new hall, and was all but 
stoned to death; and through it all rejoicing to be 
counted worthy to suffer shame for His name’s sake. 
To every clime, in every country, adapting themselves 
to the customs and style of the people, they go, thus 
getting so much more access to them. They say the 
missionaries who live in style have little access to the 
natives. They look upon them as a kind of nabobs or 
foreign gentry. We have thought, in reading of the 
wonderful success of these people, surely they have 
learned, from their divine Master, “to become all things 
to all men,” that by any means they might win them. 

The General is a man of boundless energy, infusing 
his own spirit all through the ranks. Sloth and love of 
ease, the great bane of the priesthood from the time of 
Ezekiel to our own day, could find little place in the 
life of a Salvation Army officer. Provision is made in 
the Field Officers’ Guide for filling all the time, and 
calling forth every latent energy of his nature, if he 
would see the work prosper. 

In India, perhaps the greatest trophies that have 
been won are the Brahmins of high caste who have 
been brought to the Savior’s feet and are now advancing 
His cause. A Woman’s Training Home has also been 
established, to send forth women to work among their 
own sex. May He who has taught us to pray, “that 
His kingdom may come and His will be done on earth,” 
help us to rejoice in whatever way, and by whatever 
means, it is accomplished. Amen, and amen! 

OUT-OF-DOOR SERVICE. 

At a convention held lately, one subject discussed 
was: “Cause and cure of the small attendance at our © 
places of public worship.” Is not the greatest of all 
reasons the want of unction and divine power in the 
preachers? 


126 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 





“The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit 
and they are life,” said our divine Master. Such words 
ever have a drawing-power. We read of those first 
God-sent apostles. “They went forth and preached) 
everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirm- : 
ing the word with signs following.” And is not our a 
Lord as mighty now as ever? He preached every- 
where; on the Sea of Galilee, or by the well of Samaria i 
—the earth the pulpit, the blue sky His temple. And a 
is the servant greater than his Lord, that the preachers 
of to-day shrink from this work? Where is that old 
intensity of love and ardor which sends men forth 
everywhere to preach the gospel? : 


What made the glorious and wonderful success of 
Wesley and Whitfield; verily, their intense love to God = 
and for the souls of men? They “went everywhere 
preaching the word, the Lord working with them.” 

So it will ever be. At Moorfields, the great resort of 
the lowest and most sinful of London, one year, at their_ 
annual fair, Whitfield announced he would be there to 
preach. Friends remonstrated; his life would be in ' 
jeopardy. Heknewit. The platform was reared, and a 
at six o’clock in the morning he commenced preach- 
ing. With little intermission through the day, the 
listening thousands heard the cry calling them to — 
repentance. He lifted up his voice, and told them of 
their transgressions; then urged them to “flee from the 
wrath to come.” Then, in the melting tones of love, 
caught by intensest fellowship with his adored Re- 
deemer, he would tell of His wondrous love, and 
power to save. The sheltering wing of the Almighty 
covered Whitfield that day, for at times the enemy 
raged. The stand on which he stood was again and 
again overturned, and many an effort made in vain to 
still that heaven-given voice. A mountebank near by, 
who could not hold the people, got so enraged with 
Whitfield that he mounted upon the shoulders of a 
comrade, and with a long-lashed whip tried to reach 
the preacher, but in every attempt overbalanced him- 


WORK AMONG ROMAN CATHOLICS. 127 


self, and at last slunk away amid the jeers of the 
crowd. Thus the day wore on, on; and when night 
came, and Whitfield left that battlefield, the slain of 
the Lord were many—s00 souls, they tell us, were the 
fruits of that day’s labor-—a mated day through all 
eternity. Glory to God forever! 


The command, as wide as the universe, is given: 
“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature; and lo, | am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world.” Did ever more encouraging, 
more thrilling words fall from the lips of our Christ 
than these? Boundless in their depths and fullness!— 
proclaim tt, tell it everywhere, glad tidings of great joy, to 
all people ; the balm of Gilead for every wounded soul. 
Many have thought it almost useless to try to approach 
the Roman Catholics. O not so; their religion is one 
of bondage, of fear, of uncertainty, and of doubt as to 
the final outcome; with an awful “purgatory” looming 
up before them at life’s end. I have often been great- 
ly blessed and helped in talking to them. On one 
occasion I had promised to hold a cottage prayer- 
meeting near the Rolling Mills in Chicago. Went at 
an early hour to visit and invite the people. In telling 
my errand, in one home, a large-built man, who sat 
smoking a pipe, rose to his feet, boiling over with 
wrath, and asked “how I dared to come to his house 
and ask him to come to a Protestant meeting.” O the 
torrent of angry words he poured out. I quietly 
waited until the storm subsided, when he finished up 
by asking what I thought of the Virgin Mary. An- 
swering in the words of holy writ, I said, ‘I think she 
was the most blessed among women.” “A soft answer 
turneth away wrath;” surely it did here, for he cooled 
down considerably. Sitting down by his side, I began 
to talk of the great salvation. By and by he said: 
“You don’t believe in the holy sacrament being the 
real body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as we 
do;” and reaching down his prayer-book he read words 
just about like our own translation: “Except ye eat the 


128 NAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have 
no life in you,” and “This is My blood which was shed 
for you, drink ye all of it;” “Yes,” I said, “that is just 


so in my Bible, but you have not got the whole of it.” ~ 


Reading on: “ He that eateth of this bread shall live 
forever,” and yet to the fuller explanation, “ It is the 
Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the 
words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they 
are life.” No sword, like the sword of the Spirit, “the 
Word of God!” The literal flesh, the literal blood, 
could not feed the immortal soul. : 

Two women, at their wash-tubs, had been silent 
listeners, and when the conversation ended, and I 


asked the privilege of praying with them, the man said - 


to one of them (his wife, I suppose): ‘‘Shall she pray?” 
‘T don’t mind,” she meekly answered; and we bowed 
together, and in the arms of faith and love I held this 
family before Him, our Father and our God, who had 
so loved as to give His only-begotten Son for them. 
When I arose from my knees, how changed he seemed; 
taking my hand in his, he said, ‘“‘ Don’t you ever come 
this way again without coming to see us.” 


One day, in our County Hospital, where there are 
always many Catholics, I came to a cot where lay a 
young woman, I should think about twenty-five years 
of age. She waved me away, saying, “she did not 
belong to my church; that was not her religion.” Not 
appearing to notice her unwillingness to be talked to, 
I said there was only one religion that would land the 
soul in heaven; only one God, only one Redeemer, 
only one heaven, only one hell; only one narrow way, 
that would lead us to that everlasting state of peace 
and glory. She became interested; talked on of that 
wondrous life of Jesus; of the-woman who said: “If I 
may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be 
made whole.” How vivid it all was; the crowd sur- 
rounding Him, the trembling, emaciated, fearful 
woman pressing her way through, and then the touch, 
the healing. How deeply she was moved! Jesus had 








FRANCIS E. WILLARD. 
(See Pages 319 to 322.) 








(See Pages 80, 216, 217, 244, 246, 264, 302.) 


LIGHT SHINING IN DARKNESS. 129 


Himself drawn near, and I believe that afternoon 


‘She touched the hem of His garment, 
And her faith had made her whole.” 

And yet one more instance, in Chicago, comes 
before me. It was in the dead of winter. Many of 
the poor were out of employment, when a kind. 
brother, Mr. Cooper, opened a soup-kitchen, (with the 
help of friends,) and gave to every one who came a 
bowl of soup. The kitchen was down in the base- 
ment, so every one had to come into the mission on 
the main floor, and the comers were then sent down in 
companies. A service was going on all the noon-hour 
in the upper room. One day, while speaking, I was 
suddenly interrupted by a man lifting up his arm and 
saying: “You are not telling the truth, lady.” I 
stopped, and asked: ‘In what am I not telling the 
siuth? 7) le said: “Phere is but one true-church;-the 
Roman Catholic.” ‘There is but one true church,” I 
answered, “the church of the redeemed, to which 
every child of God, from the days of Paul until now, 
has belonged,” proving it from the Word. I resumed 
the service, when, in a few minutes, lifting up his arm, 
he again repeated, ‘You are not telling the truth, 
lady.” “And did not. Jesus die for every man?” I 
asked. ‘Your Bible, as well as ours, says: ‘He bore 
the sins of the whole world in His own body on the 
tree,’ and if a poor sinner could not get to your 
church, could not get to your priest, do you think 
Jesus could save him?” I then went on without fur- 
ther interruption. On coming down from the platform 
and passing him, he caught hold of my dress, and 
looking earnestly in my face, said: “You are a first- 


rate preacher.” Never, I suppose, had dawned on 
that dark heart, until then, the all-sufficiency of Jesus 
alone to save. : 


‘Shall we whose souls are lighted 
With wisdom from on high, 
Shall we to men benighted 
The lamp of life deny?” 


130 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. . 





CHAPTER XII. 


ARTHOUR, in his “ Tongue of Fire,” says: ‘When John, 
in the Apocalypse, saw the Lamb on the throne, there 
were the seven lamps of fire burning, ( which are the « 
seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth ;) and 
it is only by waiting before that throne of grace that we 
become imbued with the holy fire. But he who waits 
there long and believingly will imbibe that fire, and 
come forth from his communion with God _ bearing 
tokens of where he has been. For every individual 
believer, and above all for every laborer in the Lord’s 
vineyard, the only way to gain spiritual power is by 
secret waiting at the throne of grace for the baptism of - 
the Holy Ghost. Every moment spent in real prayer ts a 
moment in refreshing the fire of God within the soul. This 
fire cannot be simulated; nothing else will produce 
its effects. No more can the means of obtaining it be 
feigned. Nothing but the Lord’s own appointed means, 
nothing but waiting at the throne of grace, nothing but 
keeping the heart under the eyes of the Lamb, to be 
‘again and again penetrated by His Spirit, can put the 
soul into that condition in which it isa meet instru- 
ment. If thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged 
with the love of God, so that those that come nigh 
thee will feel its power, thou must draw nigh to the 
source of that fire, to the throne of God and the Lamb; 
and shut thyself out from the world; that cold world, 
which so swiftly steals our fire away. Enter into thy 
closet, and shut to thy door, and there, isolated before 
the throne, await the baptism ; then the fire shall fill 
thee, and when thou comest forth, holy power shall 


VICTORIOUS POWER OF PRAYER. 131 


attend thee, and thou shalt labor, not with thy own 


- strength, but with demonstration and with power.” 


It is recorded of the holy Fletcher that his study- 
walls were stained all around by the breath of prayer. 
No text was selected without asking counsel of God— 
no sermon preached but he pleaded, for his hearers, 
“the hearing ear and the understanding heart;”’ then, 
alone with God, after every sermon he asked His bless- 
ing to follow. After the prevailing prayer had brought 
from heaven on Richard Baxter the Holy Ghost fire 
and power, all Kidderminster was moved ; scarcea 
house from which the sound of prayer and praise rose 
not like incense morn and night. Luther prayed till 
kingdoms were shaken and the papal power of Rome 
was broken in Germany. Mary, Queen of Scots, said 
she feared John Knox’s prayers more than an army of 
soldiers. On, on he went, prevailing through the 


mighty power of God, untilall Scotland was embraced 


in the mighty arms of his faith, and feels to-day the 
victorious power of John Knox’s prayers. During the 
time of bitter persecution, when the priest-ridden Mary 
sat on the throne of England, her jails filied with pris- 
oners suffering for conscience’ sake, and her martyrs 
ascending from fires kindled in Smithfield, Knox took 
hold of God by faith for deliverance from the awful 
bondage of popery. One day he arose from his knees 
with the cry, ‘“ Deliverance has come!” The I.ord 
would not hide from his faithful-servant what He had 
done; as soon as a herald could reach Scotland, 
through the city the proclamation was carried: ‘‘Mary 
Queen of England, is dead.” The later times tell of 
other princes in God’s Israel. 


“AND THEY BURNED INCENSE TO THEIR IDOLS.” 


At the Eureka, IIl]., camp-meeting, walking one 
evening quickly across the camp-ground, two ladies 
who were strangers to me beckoned for me to come to 
them, and asked me to sit down and talk with them. 
Both were very fashionably attired. “And do you 


UR ee oe 


132 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


think,” one of them asked me, “is it necessary for you 
to dress so plainly as you do? Have you no love for © 
the beautiful?” The Lord was greatly blessing me, 
and my full heart was like the Jordan, “‘in the time of 
harvest, overflowing its banks.” Less than an hour 
before, all alone amid the beauties of nature, I had been 
so melted with joy at the wondrous beauty of the scene; 
the blue tabernacle, the waving trees, the setting 
sun—all spoke of God ; of Him who “ maketh the out- 
goings of the morning and the evening to rejoice ;” but 
to adorn ourselves is no real mark of a love of the 
beautiful. Then I told them my experience: how, 
like every fallen daughter of Eve, I had delighted in 
this outward adornment, but that under the all-search- 
ing light of the Holy Spirit, keeping in all things a 
conformity to His will, I had seen that from the world 
and all its vain fashions I must separate myself. How 
suddenly, one day, He had asked me, “Why do 
you dress so—is it for my glory?” Andthough my lips. 
gave back no answer, the heart did: ‘“ No, Lord, it is for 
my own.” I felt that the last idol was given up, and 
that in my soul the Lord had set up his own kingdom 
of “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” 
One of the ladies*walked away; the other, I saw, was 
touched. Then came the confession : ‘I once dressed 
as plainly as you do : the Lord led me, and everything 
had to be common and plain, and 1 was very happy 
then; but I married, and my husband, although a — 
preacher, was opposed to it, and gradually I put on all 
again.” Icansee her now. She wore a close-fitting 
velvet jacket ; a long ostrich feather encircled her hat ; 
a gold chain and finger-rings, and all the adornments - 
of the world, but the joy had all taken its flight, “ the 
light had become darkness ” inthat heart. Often, dur- 
ing that camp-meeting, when the waves of joy would 
pass over the congregation, I would look to see if any 
light had come into her countenance ; but no, the veil 
of sadness was never lifted. O how many to-day have. 


turned from the sweet waters that flow softly from the 


VOIDS THAT EARTH CANNOT FILL. 133 


throne of God tothe broken cisterns of earth, which 
can holdno water. These beauties of self-ornamenta- 
tion are just the burning of incense to the idol of self; 
“ye are the temples of the Holy Ghost.” 

To keep free in the Lord will need an increasing 
vigilance on every hand. “ Have faith in God,” the 
consecrated Carvosso would say, and a whole congre- 
gation would be moved by the thrilling notes. ‘Nev- 
ertheless,” said the Savior, ‘“‘ when the Son of man com- 
eth will He find faith on the earth?” O itis the off- 
spring of obedience ; and without obedience the first 
wave of difficulty sweeps it allaway. To how many of 
the professed followers of Jesus His commands, when 
they come in conflict with self-interest, are as but a dead 
letter! 


Speaking some time ago toa friend, who was a 


-professed follower of Jesus, on the pride of life so evi- 


dently displayed in her home and surroundings, so 
much of time and money needlessly spent, she answer- 
ed : “I wouldnever have my home any different.” In 
a little while reverses came, and that home had to be 
given up. O the sorrow of that heart. No triumphant 
faith in God, no saying with the patriarch of old, “the 
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be 
the name of the Lord.” 

Some years ago a family landedin New York from 
England. The youngest child, a babe, died on the 
voyage, and its little body was committed to the great 
deep. Overwhelmed with grief, that mother landed in _ 
New York with a delicate husband and five children. 
He whose tender mercies are over all his works 
directed her steps to Mrs. Palmer’s holiness meeting. 
Sitting down in the back part of the room, the leader 
noticed her grief; and toward the end of the meeting 
said: ‘‘ We would like to hear from the stranger who 
seems troubled.” Her sad tale was told, and friends 
gathered around her, full of sympathy and help. Ina 
little while work was found for her husband, and a little 
cottage on the banks of the Hudson was rented for them 


134 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


But that heart had never been brought into subjection 
to God’s will. Ina little while she was back to the 
kind friends, but ‘she could not live in that home ;” 
every time a steamer passed would come back the 
memory of her babe buried in the Atlantic. Another 
visit, this time, to tell “ that her husband was weak, and 
not earning the wages they were giving him.” Now 
Mrs. Palmer took the case in hand ; severity, the fruit 
of love, marked her words, probing deep, to the very 
roots. She said: ‘‘ Look here, Sister ; in the course 
you are pursuing you will commit suicide, your hus- — 
band will be a widower, and your children motherless. 

This is all rebellion against the will of God.” Soon 

that mother knelt, others kneeling with her, nor rose 

from her knees until all had been laid on the altar ; her 

will all surrendered to God ; then He came in, and the . 
rest was glorious. No more she testified a weak 

nervous body, no morea sickly husband and five help- 

less children ; they had all been cast on God, and from 

that hour Bella Cooke 


“Rose to walk in heaven’s own light, 
Above the world and sin, 

With heart made pure, and garments white, 
And Christ enthroned within.” 


Forty years have passed since that day, and life, 
with its many changes, has tried that faith, but it has 
been “founded to the praise and glory of God.” The 
husband died, and when they had committed his body 
to the grave there was not a dollar in the house, not a 
dollar owing. Now an invalid, with nevera waking 
hour without pain, still her sick room in New York 
City is a place of strength and help to multitudes of 
souls. The world for Christ, in every heart, has been © 
the pre-eminence. “If any man love the world, the 
love of the Father is not in him.” 

THE GIFTS OF HEALING. 


“To another the gifts of healing,” says the inspired 
apostle of that Spirit who divideth to every man sev- 


> 





A REMARKABLE GIFT OF HEALING. 135 


erally as He will. Many years ago I had heard of a 
sister who in a most remarkable way had possessed this 
gift of healing. Laboring in the vineyard with Bro. 
Kent at Ashton, I found we were only a few miles from 
this sister’s home; so, taking the train, I started with 
the fervent desire that in some way God’s blessing 
might be on that visit. Living with her daughter, I 
found this aged saint, eighty-three years old. At first 
she scarcely seemed to understand the purpose of my 
visit, but as we bowed together in prayer, and the Holy 
Spirit fell upon us, what a oneness we felt; ‘no longer 
strangers, but one in Christ Jesus.” Soon the memory 
of other days came back all fresh, and our hearts 
burned within-us as she told of the Lord’s wonderful 
dealings with her, which I will tell for God’s glory, as 
nearly as I can recall them. 


“T was living,” said Mrs. Broadstreet, ‘“ with my 
little family in New York, when I became deeply con- 
victed of my lost condition, without God and without 
hope in the world. I had none to counsel with; no 
human help, save a few words, once, that dropped from 
the lips of a Presbyterian woman; but the Lord led me 
and revealed Himself to me as a Savior mighty to save. 
How my soul exulted in His love! Time passed on, 
when the Spirit presented to me that He would bestow 
the gift of healing upon me. How I shrank back! 
How I pleaded, Not on me, Lord, but on some one else, 
bestow this gift. For three months the struggle lasted. 
One winter night, lying all night on the floor, often in 
an agony of suffering, I put up my hand to my face; it 
was bathed in sweat; in a moment Jesus stood before 
me, covered with great drops of blood. I said, Lord, 
mine is not a sweat of blood; I will take it. He had 
shown me something of the persecution and suffering 
this gift would bring; that I would be baptized with 
the same baptism He had been baptized with. The 
news soon spread far and wide, and the opposition and 
persecution commenced, but the work went on, and 
from early morning until late at night my whole time 





136 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


would be taken up. The Lord in every case would 
make known to me what to do, and then when the mo- 
ment came for healing, the words, ‘In the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ arise, or be healed.’ Once they 
brought to me a little babe; it had fits continually; as 
I took it in my arms the Lord said take it to the brook 
and dip it in. I did so, and as I looked at it there were 
no signs of life. Do it again; and still no signs of life; 
do it again; and the third time it began to cry violently, 
and it was healed from that very hour. Once, and only 
once, my strength gave out, for I used great exertion, 
as my soul in many cases would be drawn out in mighty 
prayer. I said one day to my husband, I think my 
work is done; my voice was gone, and I was utterly 
prostrate. He let friends, two miles away, know, and 
they came to take me where I could have quiet and 
rest Ina day and night my voice came back, strength 
returned, and I went back tomy home. A team had 
come to fetch me sixteen miles, to the home of a poor 
woman paralyzed through a hurt in the spine. I went; 
there was the sufferer, unable to move hand or foot; 
and as I called for a bowl of water the mother brought 
it with tears in her eyes, telling me how it pained her 
daughter to be disturbed. I dipped my hands into the 
water, then passed them all over the body, and then in 
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ bade her to arise, 
which she did, perfectly healed. In a few minutes that 
room was filled; some were shouting, some in deep dis- 
tress for their souls, and Jesus was there healing not 
only the body, but doing the greater work of giving 
life to dead souls. When I reached home after riding 
those thirty-two miles, I felt as rested as though I had 
been sleeping on a bed of down.” 


I shall never forget those two hours of hallowed 
communion with this dear saint of God, extremely ~ 
weak, and feeble, just ready to step into the land of 
light and glory. Methinks our next meeting will be as 
we surround the throne and join in the song of triumph 
to Him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins 





DESTROYING THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL. 137 


in His own blood. Hallelujah! To Him be all the 
honor and glory for ever and ever,—amen and amen! 
As during the night memory -brought back again the 
wonderful scenes she had so vividly spread before me 
that day, I began to muse: how blessed; how favored 
to possess such a gift; bye and bye the Spirit whispered, 
“And yet show I unto you a more excellent way”—the 
way of all-enduring, all self-sacrificing love, the greatest 
of all gifts. 

O make it, blessed Holy One, the atmosphere of 
our souls on earth as it shall be in heaven.—Banner of 
Holiness. Nov. 23, 1885. 


SEEKING THE DEATH OF SIN. 


Let us look attentively into our hearts, look into 
the written Word, and look up to God, for the light of 
the Spirit to shine upon the heart and the Word. What- 
ever we discover in us contrary to the Word, let us 
bring it before the Lord (for we cannot take it away 
ourselves), and plead with Him until we feel power to 
venture on Jesus for its destruction. When God speaks 
in the inmost soul, ‘“ Be clean,” all corruption and de- 
filement shall depart, and purity shall be diffused 
through the soul. Let us not be discouraged, however 
frightful our hearts may appear, and however feeble 
and helpless we may feel. Jesus’ blood is all-cleansing, 
Jesus’ grace is all-powerful, Jesus is ours by faith. God 
offers Him to us. O, let us lay hold of a whole Savior. 
Let us force ourselves to the foot of the cross, lift up 
our eyes and look to Jesus till our hearts are pierced to 
the very bottom with His dying love. Let us continue 
there till His love has melted us down, that we may 
receive and retain the impress divine. “Be ye perfect, 
even as your- Father which is in heaven is perfect.” 
“Be ye holy, for I am holy.” For this purpose was 
the Son of God manifested in the flesh, that He might, 
—what? subdue the works of the devil? weaken the 
power of sin in the heart? No, but that he might de- 
stroy the works of the devil. O, then let us say, as God 
says, Destruction—complete destruction to sin! Faith 





138 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


which is a continued and conscious act, will preserve 

us pure. Let us cry day and night to God for this 

faith—perfect faith. We shall meet with much oppo- 

sition. The world cannot do with this, but few pro-— 
fessors will do with this, but the will of God! the will 

of God! Make good use of your time. Live by rule. 

Love Jesus with all your heart——Rev. John Smith, of 

England. 





Letters written to a brother in the ministry, on 

whole-heartedness in the cause of Christ: 
August 22, 1889. 

DEAR BROTHER IN CurisT: A duty long neglect- 
ed is often done awkwardly, and not in just the right 
way when it is done. So it was with me, dear brother, 
at the camp-meeting. My mind was full of the sub- 
ject, confirmed and strengthened by what I had heard 
on the camp-ground, but it was not just the time or 
place to speak to you. It should have been prefaced 
by prayer, and in the spirit of lowly meekness on my 
part, and between you and me alone. Your gentleness 
and general consistency of character wins the good 
opinion of those around you, and if they have seen 
your deficiencies and lacks, they have been slow to 
point them out to you. Your slackness in the Lord’s 
work, and the time needlessly spent on the- merest 
trifles while souls all around you were perishing for 
lack of knowledge, have often amazed me. I have 
heard Brother Ebey tell of a sister in their neighbor- 
hood, when he was a boy, the only professor of holi- 
ness, whose consistent, blameless life was marked by 
all, and they thought “surely that death will be most 
triumphant.” The dying hour drew nigh, but a gloom 
was on that dying face. Some one suggested that she 
loved flowers, and they had better fetch some for her; 
and a beautiful bunch of roses was brought to her 
from her own garden. ‘Take them away,” she said; 
“take them away;” and then the dying regret in the 
light of eternity; ‘“O,” she said, “the time I have 


FRIENDLY COUNSEL TO A MINISTER. 139 


wasted in my garden that ought to have been spent in 
leading souls to Jesus!” She humbled herself under 
the mighty hand of God; he forgave her, and she 
passed away in peace. 

Alleine, that mighty man of God, would say he 
was ashamed if he heard any laborers at their daily 
work before he was up in the morning, considering 
“his business was so much more important than 
theirs.” Archbishop Ussher, one of the most diligent 
of men, prayed fervently at life’s close: ‘‘O Lord, for- 
give my sins of omission.” How many of our preach- 
ers are just gentlemen of leisure! Laboring with one 
of these, some time ago, I said: ‘‘ Brother, you do not 
put in two square hours a day for God.” Badly sup- 
ported—and no wonder, for God has said: “ He that 
will not work, neither shall he eat.” Show me the 
preacher who puts in as many hours a day for God and 
His glorious cause as he would have to do if engaged 
in any business, and I will show you a man who is pro- 
vided with everything that is necessary for this life. 

O brother, arise and shake yourself; be around 
among your people; feed the flock, go after the lost, or 
as surely as you live you will die spiritually, and the 
blood of souls will be on your skirts. I write in love, 
and ought to have done so long ago. 

Yours in the precious service of our Lord, 
SaraH A. COOKE. 


DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST: Your letter, written 
so long ago, has just reached me. I have not been at 
home, and while the family I live with are always 
prompt in forwarding my mail, this one was probably 
misplaced. I hasten to answer it. I read it late at 
night, and its contents so took me by surprise that I 
did not sleep much; and as I pondered it over, the 
words of the Psalmist have come again and again: 
“Let the righteous reprove me; it shall be an excel- 
lent oil, which shall not break my head.” 

That you misunderstood my letter, as well as the 
words spoken on the camp-ground, I could not doubt. 





140 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Why, dear brother, the thought of your being idle was 
not what I meant; but this, that having given yourself 
to the work of the ministry, “ie most glorious, the most 
self-sacrificing work on the earth, so little time and ener- 
gy is devoted to it; home and its comforts, and its 
pleasures, and its work, so engross you. Look at any 
tradesman, farmer, or mechanic; could he attend to 
domestic matters the most of his time and earn the 
bread for his family? Can you tell me why a preacher 
should not put in as many hours a day for God’s 
work?—or if the work of God will move on if he is not 
a laborer? Are not the fields white unto the harvest? 
I never was in a place yet where the work of God 
could not be extended by a zealous preacher; prayer- 
meetings started in the homes of the people; house to 
house visiting; for the unsaved are everywhere; fresh 
preaching appointments opened up in every direction. 
To me this is an awful fact. Our preachers are just 
taking care of their little appointments, and making no _ 
efforts on the outside against the kingdom of Satan. 
O how little of the spirit of their great Leader, “who 
went about doing good,” or of Wesley, whose constant 
experience was: 


“The love of Christ doth me constrain 
To seek the wandering souls of men; 
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save, 

To snatch them from the gaping grave.” 


Now about the charge you bring against me, “that 
I am harsh and driving.” If you knew how much I 
strive against it you would feel some sympathy. I 
know it is mostly in zeal for my Redeemer’s cause 
The words spoken as prophetic of Him have often 
blessed me greatly; He drove the buyers and sellers 
out of the temple; and the disciples, looking on, re- 
membered that it was written of Him; “The zeal of 
thine house hath eaten me up.’’ When I see, every- 
where, and especially with ministers, such a lack of 
whole-hearted consecration, and know that the princi- 
pal cause of the barrenness of our Zion lies right 


INSTANCES OF GOD’S DISPLEASURE. 141 


here, my spirit is often greatly stirred within me. 
; Mr. Wesley said: ‘Give me one hundred preachers 
who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, 
and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or 
laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set 
up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.” 

Dear brother, we are all hastening on the wings of 
time to where we shall know as we are known, and all 
that is imperfect shall be done away. In Jesus thine, 

SaraH A. CooKE 


“Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy 
name.” 

All nature speaks of God, His power, His wis- 
dom, but His Word tells of His holiness, His hatred of 
sin; every sin is, in His Word, ‘drawn out in living 
characters,’ and marked by His displeasure. It is for 
covetousness Gehazi goes from the presence of his 
master a leper, white as snow, the leprosy to cleave to 
him all through life. It was deceit and guile that 
caused Rebecca to never again see the face of her 
favorite Jacob, and made him flee for his life from the 
presence of his incensed and wronged brother Esau. 
Is it pride which God hateth? Haman, favorite of the 
king Ahasuerus, is stirred witii wrath because a Jew 
will not do him homage: 


‘For pride is restless as the sea, 
And empty as the whistling wind;” 


and in seeking revenge he makes his own destruction 
sure, and swings himself on the gallows he had raised 
for Mordecai. 

Nebuchadnezzar, in all-his lofty arrogance and 
boastful pride, becomes the companion of the cattle of 
the field, his nature like their own, until, humbled 
under the hand of God, lowly in heart, he takes his 
place again on the throne of Babylon. 

Is it unbelief?—a doubting of God’s promises? 
For this two million people, on the very verge of the 
promised land, are turned back again, for forty years 


142 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


to wander in the wilderness; and only two of that vast 
multitude are permitted to enter in. Is it a disregard 
in parents for the training of their children in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord—to enforce obedi- 
ence to His holy commandments? For this the other- 
wise spotless life.of Eli, the high priest of Israel, 
stands as a warning for all time. ‘ His sons made 
themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” Terrible 
was this sin in the sight of God, in one whose high office 
between God and man raised him as an example in the © 
sight of all the people; and these wicked, God-defying 
sons were both slain in one day, and his own life ended 
under the awful displeasure of the Almighty. Is it 
adultery? Hear the wailing cry of David: “ My sin is 
ever before me. I water my couch with tears.” That 
fair name is sullied, and, though forgiven, all through 
life its memory would haunt him like a spectre. The 
God whom he had so loved he had dishonored. And 
so to the rich man, “lifting up his eyes in torment,” 
and asking that Lazarus might be sent to his five 
brethren to warn them, Abraham said: “They have- 
Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” 

“Wisdom crieth, she lifteth up her voice” on every 
page of God’s holy Word. Is it haughtiness? Vashti 
refused to obey the command of her husband, her 
king, and verified the words of holy-writ: “Pride goeth 
before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall;” 
and the crown is taken from her brow. Glorious light 
streams through every page of God’s Word. Praise 
God, millions of it are to-day being circulated all over 
the world! 


‘The Power that gave it still supplies 
The gracious light and heat; 
Its truths upon the nations rise— 
They rise but never set. 


What glory gilds the sacred. page, 
~ Majestic like the sun; 
It gives a light to every age— 

It gives, but borrows none.” 








DUTIES OF PARENTS TO CHILDREN. 143 


Riding one day in an open street-car, in Chicago, 
a young man was standing close beside me- Handing 
him a copy of the book of Proverbs, I asked him if he 
had ever read it, remarking: ‘‘ My eldest brother used 
to say that every business man ought to read the book 
of Proverbs every month, it is so filled with all the 
wisdom he would need in his daily life.” He began to 
turn over its pages, and seemed much interested. Ina 
little while he asked: “Is this the Bible? What would 
it cost to get the whole Bible, and where could I get 
it? Is it in the Roman Catholic Bible?” I told him 
they all came from one source—the great Father of 


_ Light, and handed down from prophets and apostles. 


How my heart went out to God that the “entrance of 
His Word might give light,” as he took down the ad- 
dress of our American Bible Society. 

Daniel Webster, the greatest lawyer of his age, 
said: “ My heart assures me, and re-assures me, that 
the gospel of Jesus must be a divine reality; from the 
time that, at my mother’s feet or my father’s knee, I 
first learned to lisp verses from the sacred Word of 
God, they have ever been my daily study and vigilant 
contemplation; and all I am I owe to my parents for 
instilling into my mind an early love for the Scrip- 
tures.” 

TO PARENTS. 


“For the promise is unto you and to your chil- 
dren.” ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it.” Is not this 
the sure Word of our God? “Her children rise up to 


‘call her blessed.” Yes, verily, but how few, in their 


children, have reaped the blessed fulfillment of these 
wondrous promises. There is failure all along the line; 
many children of the godly take the broad path “which 
leadeth to destruction.” How many parents, with the 
open Bible before them, have said: “This shall be my 
one guide in training my children for immortality and 
eternal glory!” How early this training must begin! 
To the parents of Israel, after telling them they 


144 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


were to love the Lord their God with all their heart, 
with all their soul, and with all their might, God gave 
the command how to train their children. They were 
to talk to them of God and instruct them in His laws. 
‘““When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and 
when thou risest up.”. What a training; what holy rev- 
erence in these young hearts would be inspired for God 
from the first dawn of reason. ‘The mind of a child 
is like wax to receive an impression; like marble to 
retain it.” 


Wondrous book, the Bible, full of encouragement, . 


full of warning. No lesson deeper, nothing in all its 
pages stronger in its lessons of warning to parents, 
than that of Eli, the high priest of Israel. What deso- 
lation marked his home, saddened his last days, like 
the leprosy which clung to Gehazi, and settled on his 
house forever. The one great sin in the sight of God 
was the utter failure in enforcing the commandments 
of God, and all reverence for His worship. One can 
almost see, looking back to childhood, the sinful indul- 
gence which overlooked the foolishness bound up in 
the heart of a child; the self-will, which made the serv- 
ice of God’s house irksome; the lack of true, whole- 
hearted devotion to God, which would have made 
everything else bend; in a word, the honoring of God, 
“which He wili honor,” the despising of Him, which 
consists so much in not obeying, and, as we have the 
opportunity, enforcing all His law, and of which those 
who are guilty shall-be lightly esteemed. 

And does not the worldliness of the church to-day 
speak loudly of this lack? I look back to the days of 
childhood and see the place where, every Sabbath morn- 
ing and evening, were gathered seven children from my 
father’s home, at three sessions of Sabbath-school, and 
twice a day at public services. How hallowed were 
those days. Where are the children to-day? Restless, 


wandering everywhere. How few are trained in the © 


house of God! Beloved parents, in you lies the sin, 





ae 


TEACH THE CHILDREN THE BIBLE. 145 


which is helping to make your children “ despise that 
which is good.” O remember that the education you 
are SO anxious to give them says “it is notin me.” No 
preparation on that line will lead them to God, who 
has said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of: 
wisdom;” the Bible, God’s own guide-book, cast aside; 
its teachings mostly ignored; He who made us for His 
own glory, and to share forever His presence and love, 
when the fleeting years of human life shall close, when 
the spirit shall return to the God who gave it, are all 
left out in the teachings of our public schools. O 
parents, read to them “the Word of God, which abideth 
forever.” Lead them early to commit much of it to 
memory, their knees bowed with yours, from earliest 
infancy; your lives so pure, your obedience so com- 
plete to all the will of God, shall be to them a daily 
help, a daily light. Then shall you claim the promise 
and see its glorious fulfillment, and “instead of the 
fathers shall rise up the children whom He will make 
princes in the earth.” Amen and amen 


THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 


I have always loved the Sabbath-school and to 
work among the children; their hearts are so easily 
impressed and their life is all before them. ‘ The mind 
of a child is like wax to receive an impression, and like 
marble to retain it.” Few people know how early in 
life the Lord begins to work on the hearts of children. 


While quitea small boy, one of England’s greatest 
preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon, was living with his 
grandfather, a preacher in Stamborne, Essex, when the 
Rev. Richard Knill, a missionary and great soul-winner, 
and a mighty preacher of the gospel, came to Stam- 
borne to preach their missionary sermon. -He asked 
little Charles where he slept, and every morning he 
would call him up early and take him into an arbor in 
the garden, cut out of a yew tree, and there, in the 
most winning way, would tell him stories from the life 
of Jesus—of the blessedness of trusting Him, and lov- 


146 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. ~ 


ing Him in childhood; then would kneel down and 
pray with him. : 

On the morning Mr. Knill left, he took little 
Charles on his knee, and, in the presence of all the 
family, said: ‘‘ This child will one day preach the gos- 
pel, and he will preach it to great multitudes of people. 
I am persuaded he will preach in the chapel of Row- 
land Hill” (Surrey Chapel, London). He spoke very 
solemnly and earnestly. Then he gave him a sixpence, 
as a reward for him to learn that hymn beginning: 


‘“God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform; 
He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
And rides upon the storm;” 


getting the promise from the child, that when he should 
first preach there he would give out that hymn. Mr. 
Spurgeon says that it was with indescribable emotion 
he arose to preach there, for the first time, giving out 
the chosen hymn. O who can tell the influence on his 
life of the three days’ visit of that holy missionary, 
who preached in the very heart of London for nearly 
forty years, to its busy multitudes, the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. Just on the verge of heaven, he ex- 
claimed: “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the 
faith!” “Our people die well,’ Mr. Wesley would say. 
They do, they do! ‘‘ Precious in the sight of the Lord 
is the death of His saints.” 

In 1786, in the minutes of the conference led by 
Bishop Asbury, we find this record: 

‘Question: What can be done to instruct poor 
children? Answer: Let us labor as the heart and soul 
of one man to establish Sunday-schools in or near the 
places of worship. Let persons be appointed by the 


bishops, elders, preachers, or deacons, to teach gratis’ 
all that will attend and have a capacity to learn, from | 


six o'clock in the morning until ten, and from two 
o’clock in the afternoon till six, where it eae not inter- 
fere with the public worship.” 





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PREACH THE WORD EVERYWHERE. — 147 


Eight hours a day; how different from the shred of 
time given to Sunday-school work now! 


“He shall guide thee continually.” O what an an- © 


- chor this has been to my soul, what incessant seeking for 


this guidance. Bishop Taylor says: ‘I see more and 
more clearly that it is too late for me to begin to make 
plans for the Lord by which to work, when God has so 
long ago made plans for me. It is not mine to ask 
Him to indorse my plans and go with me, but by all 
available means to discern His plans and go with Him.” 
He wrote, May 2, 1891: ‘To-day I am seventy, by the 
great providence of God, who has promised me, ‘ With 
long life will I satisfy you.’ I may yet put in twenty 
more years; this, I think, will fill up my life of service, 
bringing, I trust thousands of these African heathens 
to Jesus.” 

What a wonderful street-preacher he has been! 
He says he never but once asked permission of the 


‘authorities, and that was in New York. He was refused, 


but went right ahead, taking his commission from his 
Lord: ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- 
pel to every creature.” Said Wesley: ‘‘What marvel 


_ the devil does not like field-preaching. Neither do I. 


I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome 
pulpit; but where is my zeal if I do not trample these 
under foot in order to save one soul?” 

“To him that hath shall be given, and he shall 
have more abundance, and from him that hath not shall 
be taken away even that he hath.” Out-door meetings 
develop our young converts, and give them courage to 


_ push out anywhere with the gospel. No preacher will 


just boom over the heads of his congregation who is 
used to mixing among the people, talking to them in 
their homes, on the streets, and in the highways. He 
could not hold an out-door congregation unless his 
heart was init. This would bring him often to Jesus, 
for the courage, the strength, the holy anointing. With 


_ our eyes ever upon Jesus, our question will be continu- 


ally the first on the lips of Saul of Tarsus when he 


148 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


recognized the Messiah: “Lord, what wilt Thou have 
me to do?” and perhaps the last in that life of wondrous 
devotion before he laid his head down in martyrdom. 





CEA TK, exon: 


Tue following sketches I have taken from the life 
of Billy Bray, and while traveling have distributed 
them largely asa tract. He being dead, I would like 
to have his earnest, devoted life to shine upon these 
pages: 

Throughout all the country of Cornwall, England, 
familiar as a household word is the name of Billy 
Bray. His young life was marked by much ungodli- 
ness, though often during these years of open rebel- 
lion against God deeply convicted by the Spirit. His 
conscience troubled him, and dreams terrified him; 
and he would fear to sleep lest he should wake up in 
hell. In the good providence of God there came into 
his hand a book of John Bunyan’s; “‘ Visions of Heaven 
and Hell.” The vivid scenes depicted roused Billy to 
deep anxiety, particularly the description of two souls 
in hell cursing each other for their misery. He 
applied it to himself and an intimate boon companion, 
and the thought burned within him, “Shall he and I, 
who love one another so much, torment each other in 
hell?” The convictions were also deepened by the 
words of his wife, who had once enjoyed the favor of 
God, but had backslidden. ‘O Billy,” she would say, 
‘no tongue can tell what they enjoy who serve the 
Lord.” ‘‘ Why don’t you begin again, then?” he asked, 
“for then I might begin to get converted; and show 
me the way, for you bean’t such a sinner as I be.” 
Though suffering awfully under the lashings of a guilty 
conscience, the devil, as he said, had such a hold of 
him that he was ashamed to pray before his wife, and 
went to bed that night without kneeling. But Billy’s 








BILLY BRAY’S CONVERSION AND WORK. 149 


_ trouble was too much for his shame. In the middle 

_ of the night he sprang out of bed and fell on his knees, 
praying to God for mercy. “The more I prayed,” he 
said, ‘‘ the more I felt to pray ;” and day and night, at 

_ work and at home, he wrestled for deliverance from guilt, 
often roaring out in the disquiet of his soul. His com- 
panions reproached him for making so much noise. 
“You would roar out too, if you felt my load,” he 
would say, as they bade him be still; “you would roar 
out too; and roar out | will until I get it off.” There 
was no more drunkenness, no more shame, but one inces- 
sant cry > ‘‘ What must I do to be saved?” and work and 
food and sleep were forgotien in the intensity with 
which he sought the Lord. 

One day, as soon as he reached home, he went 
straight to his room with one resolve. ‘“ The work 
must be done now,” he cried to the Lord: “Hast 
thou not said, they that seek shall find, and they that 
knock shall have the door opened? and I have faith to 
believe it.” That moment the pardon came. “I 
shouted for joy. I praised God with my whole heart 
for what he had done for a poorsinner like me. Every- 
thing looked new to me, the people, the fields, the cat- 
tle, the trees. I was like aman in a new world. I 
told all I met what the Lord had done for my soul. I 
have heard some say that they have hard work to get 
away from their companions, but I sought mine out, 
and had hard work to find them soon enough to tell 
them what the Lord had done for my soul. They said 
I was a madman, but they meant 1 wasa glad man, 

and glory be to God! I have been glad ever since.” 

Billy’s whole life was spent in praising the Lord ; 
and for the most part aloud. He couldn’t help him- 
self ; with a heart always in tune, every influence, 
every breath, shook from its tremulous chords some 
-note of thanksgiving. ‘“ As I go along the street,” he 
said, “I lift up one foot, and it seems to say ‘Glory!’ 

- and I lift up the other and it seems to say ‘Amen!’ and 
~ they keep on like that all the time I walk,” 


150 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


But probably you would have come upon him sing- — 
ing: ‘ Bless the Lord, Ican sing,” he would say ; “my 
heavenly Father likes to hear me sing. I can’t sing so 
sweetly as some, but my Father likes to hear me sing 
as well as those who can sing better than I can. My 
Father likes to hear the crow as well as the nightin- 
gale, for he made them both.” 

Billy soon joined the Methodists. His earnest, 
deep-toned religion was felt everywhere he went ; his 
every look and all his words told of Jesus. His glad 
heart swelled to overflowing with joy and yearning 
tenderness for others. In about one week his wife 
joined him inthe race for eternal glory. 

“There were men who professed to be converted 
before I was, but did not love the Lord enough to own 
him and us, enough to pray with us and tell us we were 
going to hell! But when I was converted, praise the 
Lord! he gave me strength to tell all I met with that I 
was happy, and that what the Lord had done for me_ 
he would do for anybody else that would seek his face. | 
There was nobody that prayed in the mine where I 
worked; but when the Lord converted my soul he 
gave me power to pray with the men before we went 
to our different places to work. Sometimes I felt it a 
heavy cross, but the cross is the way to the crown. 
Sometimes I have had as many as from six to ten men 
down with me, and I have said, ‘Now, if you will 
hearken to me I will pray for you before we go to work, 
for if I donot pray with you, and any of us should be 
killed, I should think it was my fault.’ Then I would 
pray in what people call simple language, but as I 
hope the Lord would have me. When praying I had 
used to say, ‘Lord, if any of us be killed in the mine, 
or die to-day, let it be me; let no one of these men 
die, for they are not ready, but Iam, and if I die to- 
day I shall go to heaven.’ When I rose from my 
knees I would see the tears rolling down their faces, 
and soon some of them became praying men too.” 

To Billy Bray, every one he met had a soul Jesus 





oS ge ates ea ee | 


iit Ad # 


Ser kt we Tk ee 


.7 


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a 
4 





BILLY PRAYING AGAINST RITUALISM. 151 


had died to save, and that he might influence forever ; 
and he would do all he could to save it. From the 


_ time of his conversion his zeal for souls was as a “flam- 


ing fire,’ never checked by difficulties, only develop- 
ing a stronger faith and mightier victories. His ear 
was ever attentive to the voice of God. One day, walk- 
ing over a hillnear his home, the voice of the Lord said to 
him, “I will give thee all the souls that dwell upon 
this mountain.” Then began a course of earnest prayer 
for wisdom and earnest effort for their salvation. Asa 
miner he had leisure every day, only having to work 
eight hours. He visited them constantly, reading, talk- 
ing and praying, until every one was brought to Jesus. 
With great joy he told the Lord, asking for a larger 
field of labor. He rose from prayer satisfied with the 
assurance that soon there would be work enough upon 
his mountain.; and sure enough, in a little while they 
began to build a church school-house on the hill, and 
then a vicarage for the clergyman. On came the cler- 
gyman, and with great expectations Billy went to hear 
him ; but he left much disappointed, for, as he said, 
the new pastor was a Pussy (Dr. Pusey was a leader 
of the Ritualistic party in the Church of England), and 
he reckoned he should have more trouble with him 
than all the rest on his mountain. 

By day and by night Billy Bray wrestled in prayer 
for him ; at work and at home he besought the Lord 
for this one soul. So the weeks and months passed, the 
clergyman continuing to preach that the sacrament 
alone was able to save; no salvation for anybody out 
of the Episcopal church ; and he succeeded in mak- 


‘ing many of his people hold to his own notions. 


Among his hearefs was a zealous ritualist, a man after 
his own heart. This man was taken suddenly ill, and 
soon was evidently sinking in consumption. He 
became much troubled. He had heard of some having 
a joyful, triumphant hope; he had none. The out- 
ward forms of religion failed to support in the pros- 
pect of death. In much distress of mind he sent for 


EO ae ee 
_ se o = es 
~ ’ mor. 


152 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. i “e 


the Methodist to pray for him ; his eyes were opened ; 
he saw he had never been converted, dead in trespas- . 
ses and sins; in Jesus he beheld a Savior mighty to 
save, and ventured on him. The workwas done. His 
peace brightened into joy so deep that he rose from 
his bed and walked the room, shouting and praising 
God. In the providence of God the clergyman called, 
looking on in perfect astonishment, while with heay- 
en’s own light beaming on his face he shouted, “ Glory! 
Glory to God!” ‘“O sir,” the converted man cried, “ I 
know that you love me and I love you. You don't 
know this peace and joy; I’m sure you don’t, or you 
would have told it. O sir, pray the Lord to give it to 
you. Iwill never stop praying for you. The Lord 
bless and convert your soul!” The minister left him, 
perplexed and bewildered. Could it be that he was 
mistaken? Was there a power and life in religion to 
which he was an utter stranger? Did he know what it 
meant to be converted? Did he, a clergyman teaching 
these things to others, understand them himself? 

Full of misery, the Sabbath came. The bell was 
tolling for service. Trembling from head to foot, he 
read the prayers. How could he preach with nothing 
to say? As soon as he opened his mouth the glory of 
the Lord shone upon him; Christ as the only Founda- 
tion, Christ as the only Salvation, Christ as the Ali in 
All, was revealed to him. It was the beginning ofa 
glorious revival that spread on every side. 

Now came the answer to Billy Bray’s oft-repeated 
prayer that he might go and see the parson ( he was 
now living some miles away.) So he started, as he 
said, hitching up the donkey, and singing all along the 
road, getting to the clergyman’s house about breakfast _ 
time. In the house the favorite expression; “ Bless 
the Lord!” was heard in the hall. Opening the door, 
there stood the early visitor. 

‘“What is your name?” asked the clergyman. 

“TI be Billy Bray, sir. Be you the parson?” he 
asked. The man told him he was, ee 


~‘ 


CONVERSION OF A CLERGYMAN. 153 


J 


‘“‘ Converted be ye, sir?” 

“Yes, thank God, Iam,” said the clergyman. In 
a moment Billy was filled with delight that knew no 
bounds. Throwing his arms around him he lifted him 
up, carrying him around the room, shouting ‘“ Glory! 
Glory! the parson’s converted! Glory to God!” Now 
the vicar’s wifecamein. ‘“ Be this missus converted?” 
asked Billy. ‘ Yes, thank God!” was the joyful answer. 
“OQ” he said, “ I’s be so happy I can hardly live.” But 
suddenly Billy checked himself. ‘ All the souls on 
the mountain?” he said to himself; then asked the lady: 

‘Bean’t there some maids in the house?” 

‘““Yes,”’ she answered, “there are three.” 

“Be they converted, too? for they do live upon 
my mountain.” He was assured they all were con- 
verted. Then they all knelt together, thanking the 
Lord for the mighty works he had done. 

_ Amidst many discouragements and difficulties he 
commenced with his own hands to build a chapel near 
the place where he lived. ‘“ The Lord,” he said, “ sent 
us many friends, who sent me money to pay the 
masons, and we got the walls up and the roof, but the 
last bit of timber had been used, the last penny spent.” 
Billy got down before the Lord in simple, earnest, be- 
lieving prayer. How could he doubt? Had not the 
Lord said, ‘“‘The silver and the gold are mine?” 

The next morning he came down to his work 
again without timber or money, but with faith in God. 
He didn’t wait long. A man who lived near came up 
and asked him, ‘What do you want a pound note for?” 
“Just the money I want to put a principal on the end 

-of the chapel,” said Billy, with twinkling eyes. “Well,” 
said the man, ‘I never knew such a thing in my life; 
all the morning it has been coming in my ears, ‘go 
and give Billy a pound note.’” So off Billy went to 
buy the timber, blessing the Lord all the way. Souls 
were so exceedingly precious in his sight that when 
less zealous friends would dissuade him from under- 
taking to build another chapel under great discourage- 


154 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


ments, his argument against every objection was this: 
If this chapel should stand a hundred years, and only 
one soul was converted in a year, that would pay well 


enough; for “they that turn many to righteousness ~ 


shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.’ And so 
this Cornish man ran his race, a fullness of joy and 


peace flowing through his soul—like the tree planted 


by the river “bringing forth its fruits,” till the glorious 
light of eternity dawned, and he took his place around 
the throne, to go no more out forever. 


The Lord has said: “The righteous shall be had in 
everlasting remembrance.” How they stand out on 
the pages of history, belonging to every sect, to every 


age; like Enoch, they have walked with God, filling 


the church with the perfume of their goodness. One 
of these, the Rev. William Tennant, a preacher in the 


Presbyterian church, in the last century, had preached © 


one morning and had taken for his afternoon text 
John 3:16, and had gone out at the noon-hour to med- 
itate on the glorious theme of God’s love. As he did 
so, especially on the infinite wisdom of God as mani- 
fest in all His works, and particularly on the wonder- 
ful method of salvation, through the death and suffer- 
ing of His beloved Son, the subject suddenly filled his 
mind with such a flood of light that his views of the 
infinite glory and majesty of Jehovah became so inex- 
pressibly great as to entirely overwhelm him, and he 
fell almost lifeless to the ground. When he had 
revived a little, all he could do was to raise a fervent 
prayer that God would withdraw Himself from him, or 
he must perish, under a view of His ineffable glory. 
Over-staying his usual time, some of his elders went in 
search of him, and found him prostrate on the ground. 
He ascended to the pulpit on his hands and knees. 
He remained silent a considerable time, earnestly sup- 
plicating the Lord to hide Himself from him; then he 
stood up, holding on to the desk, and in a most affect- 
ing and pathetic manner gave an account of the view 


he had had of the infinite wisdom of God, and deplored 





ADAM CLARKE CALLED OF GOD. 155 


. his own incapacity to speak of Him in a manner at all 


adequate—so infinitely glorious, beyond all powers of 
description. Then followed a prayer so fervent that it 
drew tears from every eye. The sermon followed, 


- from “God so loved the world that He gave His only- 


begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life.” Forty souls 
were converted as a result of that service, and he 
called it his great harvest day. 


OF ADAM CLARKE. 


In watching the majestic flow of a river like the 
Hudson or Mississippi, who would not look with deep 
interest to the little rill, perhaps from some fissure in 
the hill-side, whence it took its rise, swelling in its 
course till on its bosom the mightiest ships could sail, 
and everything on its banks drew sustenance. Such 
are the lives of the illustrious ones who have left their 
“footprints on the sands of time.” To be had in ever- 
lasting remembrance are the names of that illustrious 
galaxy raised up by the great Lord of the harvest to 
spread abroad the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ, when formalism, like a blight, 
had settled down on the pulpits of our land—priest 


_and people alike; with only here and there a witness of 


eee ee ye 


God’s power to save. When the hearts of the Wes- 
leys, Whitfield, Berridge, the Countess of Huntington 
and many others were touched, and the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost and fire descended upon them, its results 
were always the same in every church, in every nation, 
impelling love to God and man. 


“The love of Christ doth me constrain, 
To seek the wandering souls of men;” 


Simultaneously there was a young boy in the 
north of Ireland moved to join Mr. Wesley to go forth 
asa preacher. His mother, a Presbyterian, his father, 
of the Church of, England, opposed, but the young 
Adam Clarke had learned that Abraham heard when he 


* lived away beyond Charran, “Get thee out of thy coun- 


156, WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


try, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house 
unto a land that I will shew thee, and I will bless 
thee.” He started, he sailed for Liverpool with a loaf, 
a pound of cheese, and three half-pence in his pocket 
On reaching London he presented himself to the 
apostolic Wesley, who asked him: “Do you wish, 
Brother Clarke, to devote yourself entirely to the work 
of God?” He answered that he did. “We want a 
preacher for Bradford,” he said; then, turning, he laid 
his hand on the young man’s head, with a fervent 
prayer for God’s preservation and blessing. Ever 
preaching, ever studying, his proficiency was wonder- 
ful. The great secret, he said, was redeeming the 
time. One loves to turn to the causes that tend to 
produce a life so far exalted above most of those 
“whose dwellings are in houses of clay.” His resolu- 
tion at the commencement of his public ministry was: 
‘“T am determined by the grace of God to conquer or 
die!” Over his mantel-piece he placed this motto: 
“Stand thou as a beaten anvil to the stroke.” Indom- 
itable energy marked his course. ‘Always in haste, 


never in a hurry,” what his hand found to do he did 


with his might. Idleness found no ally in him. In 
whatever company or situation, his mind was always 
occupied. While others slept or wasted their time, he 
kept the glorious issue always in view. He ploughed 
with all his heifers, regardless of the wind or rain. To 
a young man he wrote: ‘“ The grand secret is to save 
time. Spend none needlessly. Keep from all unneces- 
sary company. Never be without a praying heart, and 
have as often as possible a book in your hand.” 
Learning opened to his inquiring mind her richest 
stores; never seeking honor, it was poured upon him. 
Princes sought his society. The great and good would 
sit at his feet and learn of him. He loved the poor, 
sought their homes and loved to, minister to their 
wants. Speaking of the way in which the clergy 
carried themselves aloft from their people, “lording it 
over God's heritage,” he wrote of Methodist preach- 



























MINGLING THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 157 


ers: “They have another kind of greatness—their humil- 


ity, their heavenly unction; and the sound of their 
Master’s feet is heard behind them.” 

Everything to him was as dross compared to the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ. ‘ Learning,” 
he said, “I love; learned men I prize; with the com- 
pany of the great and good I am delighted. But in- 
finitely above all these and all other enjoyments I 
glory in Christ in me, living and reigning and fitting 
me for His heaven.” 

_ His greatest work, next to that of being a preach- 


‘er of righteousness, turning multitudes to God, was his 


Commentaries. By them he yet speaks to'the hearts of 
thousands, opening up the rich treasures of its inex- 
haustible storehouse, the holy, blessed Bible. 


“ HOLINESS BECOMETH THINE HOUSE.” 


When our Savior’s indignation was stirred, as He 
came to the temple and saw there the buyers and 
sellers, with the sheep and oxen, he took a scourge of 
small cords, drove out the cattle and overthrew the 
tables of the money-changers, and declared that His 
Father’s house was a house of prayer, but they had 


’ made it a house of merchandise. It was a lesson, for 


all time, of the sacredness of God’s church and its 
consecration to His worship. 

On the North Side, in Chicago, they had com- 
menced special services, and the indications were good 


_ for a blessed time. Souls had already been saved, and 


there was deep interest, when some of the people 


insisted that Friday night was the time for some enter- 


fainment—I forget its nature. The meeting was 
dropped, and the Spirit so grieved that He departed. 
People reason and argue that the world can be drawn 
to the church that way. -Never—never! The church 


_ is drawn to the world. Another argument is, “to raise 


money.” The very worldly class, in the church, 
makes all so costly, with extravagant buildings, fine 
furniture, worldly men and women paid for singing 


158 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


God’s praises, and large salaries to be paid the pastor 
(who, if he has his commission from his Lord and 
would follow closely in His steps, would lead a life of 
plainness and simplicity, “coming out from the world 
and being separated from it,”) that only by carnal 
means can expenses be met. 

“We must do it,” say others, ‘to hold our young 
people.” The happier people are in the Lord, the less 


they need amusements. Delight in the Lord is the © 


sweetest, deepest, purest of all enjoyments. 

In the days of awful persecution, God was the all- 
satisfying portion of His people. Hear Madam Guyon 
in the Bastile, the awfullest prison in France: 


“My sole possession is Thy love; 
On earth beneath, or heaven above, 
I have no other store; 
And though I pray, 
And importune Thee night and day, 
I ask for nothing more.”’ 


The Puritan church, in the days of her spirituality 


and power, held her young people. The Presbyterian - 


church held hers in the days when her own piety was 
deep and broad. The Congregationalists landed at 
Plymouth Rock, where 


“They shook the depths of the desert gloom 
With their hymns of lofty cheer; 
Amid the storms they sang, 
_And the stars heard, and the sea; 
And the sounding aisles of the dim wood rane 
With the anthem of the free.” 


It is only when God’s people become worldly and | 


lax, themselves partaking of the spirit of the world, 
that they lose their influence on their children. The 
Presbyterians, settling in Kentucky, spread over a 
large tract of country. At their quarterly meetings 
they would gather together, often coming great dis- 
tances, and in large wagon-loads. The roads were 
bad, and traveling was slow, and mostly they spent a 
night on the road; but seasons of blessings they would 











A CHURCH FORSAKEN BY THE SPIRIT. 159 


have at the time of evening worship; so much of the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that they would not 
separate before eleven or twelve o'clock. No building 
could hold the multitudes that would gather, and thus 
commenced the camp-meetings. Young people of the 
church wanted nothing better; the unsaved know the 
joyful sound about as well as we do, and like doves to 
the windows will they be drawn. 


A church that by its worldliness has grieved away 
the Spirit is like the salt of which our Savior spoke, 


“having lost its savor, and is trodden under foot of 


men;” and all worldly wisdom fails to raise it. “O 
how they slave and toil!” said a dear friend to me: “O 
how I worked for the church; how I would weary 
myself in getting up entertainments.” But the Lord, 
one night, awoke her and showed her she was walking 
according to the flesh. A horror of great darkness 
fell on her, and the consciousness that she was not 
ready to die. The first light came through these 
words: “ Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” She 
pleaded the soul’s deep need, deep longing, and into 
that parched heart the waters of salvation flowed. 
She went to her church, told of the wonderful things 
God had done for her, and as the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost and fire fell upon her, she spoke with other 
tongues, as that Spirit gave her utterance, and they said 


-she was beside herself. 


When Isaiah in the temple caught a sight of the 
glory of the Lord, of His holiness, and the seraphim 
veiled their faces with their wings before Him, then he 
cried, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone, because Iama 
men of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a 
people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the 
King, the Lord of Hosts.” Then, when the lips were 
touched, the iniquity all purged away, how ready was 
he to do the Lord’s work: ‘‘ Here am I, Lord; send 


” 


me.” The nearer to God the more we love and are 
prepared to do His work. 


ne “WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


One night, at the close of a meeting in Farwell 
Hall, a middle-aged woman asked me to call and see 
her niece, who was unsaved, and ina decline. I went, 
and was met at the door by the sick one. I sawat once 
that her days were numbered, but she was buoyed up 
by false hope, a new doctor having told her he could 
cure her. After some conversation the Lord touched 
her heart, and she broke down before Him. Full of 
hope, I repeated the visit in a few days, but could not 
gain admittance, the doctor having said “he could not 
cure her if she allowed herself to get so excited; she 
must not talk to me.” The door of her heart and home 
were closed. One day a hasty summons came to go to ~ 
her immediately. I was-out, but Mrs. Hawxhurst went 
at once. She found her sitting up in bed in awful dis-_ 
tress. The doctor kept buoying her up, while it was 
evident to all around her that she was sinking. That 
day the mother had followed him out of the room, be- 
seeching him to tell her the truth about her daughter’s 
case. Then he said: ‘She will not live twenty-four - 
hours.” The mother returned to the room with the 
words of the doctor. Then came the awakening; within 
twenty-four hours of death, and all unprepared. Lov- 
ingly, earnestly, Mrs. H. told her of the plan of salva- 
tion; of Jesus, His might, His power, His willingness to 
save. Hour after hour passed; sometimes, almost over- 
come by weakness, she would arouse herself again— 
“With such a work to do, so near the end.’ Then, in the 
night, she requested them all to leave the room, and 
they heard her pleading: ‘Jesus, J am all unworthy; 
I have neglected Thine offer of mercy so long;” heart- _ 
broken confessidns from those dying lips. As she 
drew near the Lamb of Calvary, and by faith touched 
Him, she felt the saving power. ‘‘ You may all come 
in,” she said; then told that Jesus had saved her, en- 
treating every one around that death-bed to seek the 
Lord now, ‘ Tell Mrs. Cooke,” she said, “everywhere 
she goes to warn the young people from me.” “ Yea, 
sayed as by fire, as a brand plucked from the everlast- 











GEN’L WM, BOOTH. 








(See Paz2s 126, 147, 299.) 


LIVING IN THE DIVINE PRESENCE. 161 


ing burning,” was Mary Harrison. Often, when talking 
to the young, that message is brought to me by the 
Holy Spirit. 

Iam more and more convinced that there is too 
little of warning in most of the teaching and preaching 
of this day. It mingled greatly in all the teachings of 
the inspired. prophets, in all of John’s, the forerunner 
of our Lord; in the. teachings of our Lord and of His 
first disciples; and the Apostle Paul could appeal to 
those who knew him well, ‘‘that for three years he had 
not ceased to warn every one, night and day, with tears.” 
O for such tenderness; never found, save in those who 
walk very closely with the Redeemer. 


MRS. MARTHA SMITH, HILLSBORO CAMP-MEETING. 


“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; 
in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and 
will look up.” Often there would come into our early 
meeting at Hillsboro a sister with face all shining with 
the glory of God. We knew well she had already been 
on the mount of communion; and one day, from her 
own lips, I wrote down her experience. Believing it 
may help and bless others, I give it here. Mrs. Smith 
said: ‘We were living on the frontier, and I was only 
seven years old. My father was to be away from home 
one night, and mother led the family worship, and in 
her prayer she said: ‘Lord, hide us in the hollow of 
Thy hand and under the shadow of Thy wing.’ After 
mother went to bed I sat down by the fire, thinking so 
much of my mother’s prayer; what a wonderful being 
God must be, who could hide us in the hollow of His 
hand and cover us with His wing. My heart seemed 
so wonderfully drawn up to Him, and the Ged who - 
spoke to. little Samuel, three thousand years before, 
spoke to this child, saying, ‘I will be with you all the 
days of your life.’ O how changed I was from that 
hour; the room seemed filled with His presence, and 
my heart was constantly drawn out to Him. There 
were a good many snakes around our house, and we 
had great fear of them; but every time I went out to 





162 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


gather berries, or out into the long grass, I would look 
up to God in great confidence that He would take care 
of me. After that I had no fear of going into the dark. 
They called me the little preacher, for if any did wrong, 
I always had to tell them about it. My mother went 
away from home to see my aunt, and was with her when 
she died. When she came home I heard her tell my 
father how happy my aunt was; that she said, when 
dying, ‘O that I could go over all the world and tell 
everybody to live and die a Christian and meet me in 
heaven.’ She gave me her bonnet and shawl to take 
up-stairs and put away. When up there, how I asked 
the Lord to help me to live and die a Christian like 
Aunt Martha. O how He blessed me there and 
accepted my prayer. About this time a little brother 
died. I would lie down by him and sing and talk to 
him of heaven.” 

Some forty years had passed since those early days, 
and still her covenant-keeping God was the same. Her 
voice was lifted in the great congregation in testimony, 
or ringing shouts of victory and holy triumph. One of 
her sons was a faithful watchman on the walls of Zion. 


On one occasion we commenced our meeting at 
5:30 in the morning, and as she came in, all filled with 
the Holy Spirit, she said: ‘It is a habit I formed long 
ago to get the first time in the morning alone with God, 
and He does so bless me.” Surely, she understood the 
words of the Psalmist: ‘ From the womb of the morn- 
ing thou hast the dew of thy youth.” One of.the du- 
ties so insisted on and practiced by the early Method- 
ists was early communion with God. I recall one of 
these veterans of the cross, a local preacher and class- 
leader in England, Mr. Bennett, father of my sister-in- 
law, Mrs. Henry Bass. He had a large farm, but his 
invariable custom was to spend one hour in prayer and 
reading the Word of God before the family and serv- 
ants were called. That deep voice would be heard 
getting hold of God in that early morning hour. How 
legible was God’s own seal on him. Every one felt it 


IN THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE WORLD. 163 


who came near him. He would say that everything on 
his farm talked to him of God. Living for years in 
the home of my brother, what a hallowed influence 
surrounded him. How I would love, at the time of the 
setting sun, to'sit at his feet, and we would talk together 
of God’s love and faithfulness. One day one of his 
grandsons, Arthur, came to his mother, telling her he 
(a little boy of some six years) wanted to be just like 
grandpa; that he prayed a good deal, and five times 
that day he had been alone to pray. May it beso, that 
his mantle of deep piety may descend from generation 
to generation; richer heritage than all of earth’s pos- 
sessions, a million-fold. As he passed from earth, his 
last words were words of holy triumph. 


My Dear YounG Frienp: There is a natural 
shrinking, in every heart, from stepping out of the 
beaten track; doing differently from those around us: 
and yet you cannot follow Jesus without being unlike 
others. The way to destruction has nothing singular 
in it. Multitudes walk together there in that broad 
path; but ‘‘enter in at the strait gate, the narrow way,” 
and you are singular at once—‘“not as others are.” I 
have a letter before me now from one of the most gen- 
tle, amiable women I ever knew; and in writing to me 
from Brooklyn (she is visiting friends there), she says: 
“Tt seems to me I never loved God more and with 
deeper love than I do to-day. His keeping power is 
most wonderful. O what love! I am surrounded-with 
worldliness, and O it seems so hollow! I stand alone 
amid it all, and the blessed Lamb of God upholds me 
by the right hand of His power. I realize so fully that 
we are a separated people. I guess I ama whip to 
many worldly people; they get very uneasy, and 
worldly professors don’t like me too near; their looks 
show it.” You know Jesus said to His first disciples, 
‘Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen 
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you;” 
and ‘the servant is not greater than His Lord.” 

He came, dear ones—our Jesus came to “redeem 





164 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


” 


unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. 
Don’t be too long in company with others without get- 
ting alone to pray. It keeps the heart tender and 
fresh; keeps you so near that you can hear the Shep- 
herd’s voice. 

From the day of my conversion, I always took the 
first time after breakfast for reading the Bible and 
secret prayer—one chapter in the Old Testament, and 


one in the New. Then I heard the Lord talk to me, 


and my heart would be subdued and ready for prayer. 
Pour out all your heart, all your cares, everything that 
affects you, to Him, and then believe He will help you; 
and as the light comes through His holy Word, or 
directly by. His Spirit, always yield, saying: -“I will 
obey Thee, Lord!” And, as you say it over and over, 
you will yield to Him. 

Then about noon (Daniel’s hour), I would get so 
hungry to be alone. It was summer-time, and we had 
a lovely garden; I would bound up the long graveled- 
walk, and, almost before seated in the garden-chair, I 
would say, 


“Lord, Iam come alone with Thee, 
Thy voice to hear, Thy face to see, 
And feel Thy presence near; 
It is not fancy’s lovely dream, 
Tho’ wondrous e’en to faith it seem, 
That Thou shouldst meet me here.” 


A few verses read in the little Testament, a few 
minutes spent in prayer, and I would go back into the 
house again, O so quickened and refreshed in soul. — 
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength.” 

It is the way, dear, the righteous have ever trod—the 
path that leads to glory. Having started, press on, for 
the crown of life is before you; let none hinder you in 
your course. Press forward every day, looking unto 
Jesus to help you bear the daily cross and give you the 
daily triumph, In His most precious love, thine, — 

SarAH A, COOKE, 


~ 


FOLLY AND DANGER OF NEGLECTING PRAYER. 165 


MISS MARIAN FORD. 


While laboring with Miss Ford, in our work, she 
gave me this account of the Lord’s dealings with her; 
and, believing that it may be useful as a warning to 
some, and helpful to others if they are in deep despair, 
ieinsert it here: ; 

From my earliest childhood I was the subject of 
deep convictions. At about the age of twelve years, a 
protracted meeting was held in our neighborhood. Deep 
feeling entered my young heart; and one night, when 
at home with the younger children (parents and all the 
older ones having gone to meeting), I began to feel 
very sorrowful. Others had gotten religion. I went 
into my mother’s room, and wept and cried my heart 
out to God; and there and then, all alone, He, for 
Christ’s sake, forgave all my sins. 

When God converted my soul He converted me to 
my closet. Oh, the blessed change! I had at that 


- time little outwardly to help me; no Sabbath-school or 


class-meetings, and preaching but seldom; but the Lord 
led me to read and love His holy Word—the all-suffi- 
cient guide. I had read of Daniel three times a day in 
secret prayer, and made that my rule. 

When I was about sixteen years of age, my parents 
were going from home on a visit, and they engaged a 
young lady to come and stay with me, who was not a 
Christian. Miss H. V.came. She was somewhat older 
than myself, and here came the fear of man which 
bringeth a snare. I was ashamed to pray before her. 
The Spirit prompted me to pray at the evening hour, 
but I thought I would pray after I got to bed; and so, 
during the four days she was with us, I kept deferring, 
only twice that I remember going alone secretly. My 
parents came home on the Saturday night. Again the 
Spirit, true to His mission, prompted me to go alone 
and pray; but my now rebellious heart answered, ‘‘ No; 


I want to hear all about their visit.” The next morning 


(Sabbath) we had Sunday-school at nine o’clock. I 
went to that, and again in the afternoon, finding no time 


166 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


or inclination to go alone and pray. I was tired, and 
towards evening laid down and slept. When I awoke I 
was allalone. Then I thought, this is a good time to 
pray. I left the parlor, and going into the bed-room I 
knelt down and said a few words. Then came the aw- 
ful words: ‘‘ Depart from Me!” Never, while memory 
lasts, shall I forget that awful hour on June 23, 1850. 
I could not say another word. I could not shed a tear. 
A horror of great darkness had fallen on me. God had 
turned away from me. — For the next twenty-four hours 
I could remember nothing. When I came to myself, I 
was sitting on the opposite side of the room. The 
agony of my soul I can never forget, neither can I 
describe it. Language is too weak. I said to myself, 
I cannot stand this; and began to pace the floor, but 
the awful feeling was there. I thought I would get 
relief if I went to bed. The moment I laid my head 
on my pillow, if I had laid it in hell-fire I could not 
have been in greater torment. Again I paced the floor. . 
Oh, that awful night! Not once did I close my eyes 
in sleep. The next morning I took my Bible, thinking 
I could get something there to comfort me. To my 
utter astonishment I could not hold it in my hands 
long enough to read a verse. It seemed as though it 
burned my hands as well as my very soul. I turned 
away; but everywhere I went the pangs of hell had 
hold of me. I know I have tasted the awful burnings . 
of that lake of fire. When the Bible speaks of the 
worm that never dies, the fire that is never quenched, 
it is no strange language to me. For days 1 would go 
alone, and on my father’s hay-mow roll in awful agony. 
It seems to me, the most earnest prayer I ever prayed 
was for God to let rocks and mountains fall on me and 
hide me from His presence. I was tempted to go and 
hide away, or go into the dark; but go where I would 
it was there—the awful agony of my soul. I just as 
much thought I was lost as though beyond the boun- 
daries of time. I had no hope of forgiveness. Then 
it would come to me: Have I got to go down to hell 








THE JOY OF RESTORATION TO CHRIST’S LOVE. 167 


and spend an eternity with all the drunkards, murder- 
ers, liars? Oh, it was awful! I was afraid to go to 
sleep, for my dreams would be worse than my waking 
thoughts. My bodily strength left me. My mother 
thought I was sick. I could not open my heart to any 
one, and whenever I would try to pray it seemed as 
though there was a stone wall before me, and every 
word would bound back again. For three months this 
lasted. The gnawings of that guilty conscience, the 
foretaste of that awful hell, were mine. 

As I groaned day by day before God, at the end of 
three months there began to dawn the first hope that 
again the Lord would receive me. The “ Depart from 
Me!” had not been followed with “ ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire,” and again hopes of mercy came glimmer- 
ing—faintly at first. I agonized day by day, until there 
came again the glorious consciousness that all had been 
forgiven, and I walked in the sunlight of God’s love. 
At night I would lie down to sleep encompassed by 
His arms of love. How often since have I with tears 
of deep thankfulness blessed the Lord for leading me 
through this deep experience. What deep watchful- 
ness and carefulness it wrought in me, lest I should 
ever again depart from Him, “ my life, my Lord, my 
all.” To-day the language of my glad heart is, 


‘““ His presence is my paradise, 
And where He is ’tis heaven.” 


Crystal Lake, Ill. 





168 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


CHAPTER, “XIV: 


OFTEN, when down in the city, I would go to the 
Rock Island depot; I found it a good place to 
work, inviting passengers who had long to wait for 
their trains to the Pacific Garden Mission, only. two 
blocks away, and to others talking of their souls. One 
day I spoke toa stranger, asking if she had long to 
stay. She answered that their train left at eight o’clock; 
they were going to Oberlin. ‘And did you know Mr. 
Finney?” I asked. ‘“O yes,” she said, “‘my husband — 
was a member of his church.” Soon the husband, who 
was much crippled with rheumatism, joined us ; and, 
telling him how dear the memory of Finney was to me, 
I asked if he could give any personal reminiscences of 
his life. He thought a little and then said: “ We had 
had avery severe drought ; and everything was dry- 
ing up, when Mr. Finney was impressed with the 
thought, ‘what will the infidels in the community think 
of us and of our God, when we continually profess to 
them that He hears and answers prayer?’ At the 
morning prayer he took hold of God in mighty faith, 
spreading the whole case before Him, saying: ‘ Lord, 
thou knowest there will be a famine in this land unless 
thou sendest rain. Thecattle are lowing now for food; 
the grass is all dried up; even the little squirrels are © 
panting for water,Lord.’ Faith omnipotent took right - 
hold of God, and he finished, saying, ‘we want rain, and 
we want it now.’ The heavens were cloudless when 
the preacher took his text, but not more than half an 

-hour elapsed before the rain began to dash on the win- 
dows. Mr. Finney stopped ; and as that large congre- 





P| alll tn 
oe 


ee ple ae 


eee Ref Sh a Slee ee 
yee : \ 


- 


MR. FINNEY’S FAITH AND EARNESTNESS. 169 


gation rose simultaneously to their feet, he gave out 
this hymn : 


‘When all thy mercies, O my God, 
My rising soul surveys, 

Transported with the view, I’m lost 
In wonder, love and praise.’ 


, 


“There might have been,” the man said, “three 
thousand people there that Sabbath morning, but I 
don’t think there was a dry eye inthe place.” Astran- 
ger, a commercial traveler from the East, had joined us, 
and O how the blessing came upon us in that depot. 
He took out his note-book to write our addresses and 
the date of that, to him, wonderful meeting. 

And being dead, yet such holy, devoted men speak. 

Mrs. Lucy Rider Myer, in speaking of him, says: “I 
shall never forget the first sermon I heard Charles G. 
Finney preach ; how, after being fairly carried out of 
myself by the logic and eloquence of his discourse, I 
was astonished to see him drop back upon the long, 
low lounge that was across the whole end of the church, 
where he sat during all the rest of the service, his face 
in his hands and his elbows on his knees, groaning and 
crying aloud, so that he was distinctly heard all over 
the church. I thought he was ill. If it had been in the 
Methodist church, I should have understood it. I scon 
found out my mistake, however ; he was in an agony 
of soul for the message he had just delivered. Some- 
times these outbursts would take place in the middle 
of the sermon, but he would talk right on through 
them, in broken voice and partly restrained sobs. 
_ “Often Mr. Finney would preach very long sermons 
in the afternoon, the service beginning at half-past 
two or at three o’clock; and often, as we walked home- 
ward, talking of what we had heard, the summer sun 
would be so low inthe sky as to suggest very strongly 
the coming evening.” ; 

And why, O why, have God’s people departed 
from these landmarks of our fathers? During the very 





oC WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


best part of the day for reaching the unsaved, our 
church doors are closed, and the people rove around 
the streets, with no place to go to hear the word of life. 
Mr. Wesley would begin the services in the Taber- 
nacle at London, on Sabbath, at half-past five o’clock 
in the morning, and would hold on, with very little 
intermission, all the day. He would say: ‘Our people 
are at it, and always at it ;” hence, with the blessing of 
God, their wonderful success. Our Savior said: “‘ The 
children of this world are wiser in their generation 
than the children of light.” They do not close their ~ 
stores and offices all the best part of the day. Sabbath 
is the great harvest-day of the week ; shall the most of 
it be spent in listlessness, while the unsaved are all 
around us, pressing down to eternal death? When his 
people told Fletcher that they could not awake early 
enough to come to his early meeting, he would go 
around the village ringing a bell, and the wicked would 
say of him, ‘ There goes the soul-winner.” 


Speaking of Charles G. Finney, a writer says : 
“ While he had true tenderness of heart, his sternness 
was awful. I have known him to pour out the vials of 
God’s wrath on persons in certain states of mind, and 
then turn away and weep and groan over the wounds 
he had inflicted. 

‘““Never did a tutor lay such stress on the duty of 
his pupils being filled with the Holy Ghost as he did— 
their utter worthlessness without it. How mightily he 
prayed for the enduement of the Spirit on his students 
before they went forth on their mission, none but those 
that heard him can know. Such prayers as he uttered 
I shall never hear again. It was a hard heart that did 
not melt while he prayed. Frequently his prayers 
were more like intimate conversations with God. O 
how he would plead, and reason, and beg, and argue 
with God! I never listened to such prayers. How 
many times I have exerted my strength to restrain 
myself from crying aloud, while in his wondrous inter- 
cessions he bore us to the very throne of heaven.” 





Si oe oS ee 
pine 


PIETY IS HEART-WORK, NOT HEAD-BELIEF. 171 


“Ye have not, because ye ask not,” or “ because 
ye ask amiss,” says the Apostle James. The promise 
is not to prayer, but to the “effectual, fervent prayer,” 
reaching to the very mercy-seat of God, with the 
whole heart, with singleness of purpose, and a grip 
like that of Jacob’s “I will not let thee go except thou 
bless me.” 

The Apostle Peter, in speaking of the wife, beau- 
tifully draws her character. What inimitable touches 
—how much in a little! The sweet subjection; the 
chaste conversation; the fear of God; the fashioning 
of the outside garment; the ornament, in the sight of 
God, of a meek and quiet spirit; what a beautiful life! 
A professed infidel once said: ‘I can meet all the 
arguments and earnest appeals of ministers unmoved; 
but the low, earnest pleadings of my wife, that come 
to me from her room, where she gathers our little ones 
every day, and her sweet, gentle, angelic look, as she 
comes out to take up the duties of the day, convince 
me that she has got something that I do not possess— 
that there is a God who meets with her.” 

Said the teacher of Augustine (a heathen): “What 
wonderful women these Christians have!” Yes, trans- 
formed into His very image; the work begins here, to 
be consummated when we see Him as He is. 

“Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will 
shew thee my faith by my works,” says the Apostle 
James; and “by their fruits ye shall know them,” said 
Christ. “Faith that worketh by love.” I was much 
struck, one day, by the remarks of a very shrewd, 
witty Irish woman. Speaking of a people with whom 
it is all believe, believe, believe, she said: ‘Why, the 
devils believe and tremble; they don’t do as much as 
that.” How many are gathered into the visible church 
this way, with a mere head-belief. 

Mrs. Booth, of the Salvation Army, was visiting a 
gentleman in the country, when he told her that, a 
little time before, a popular evangelist was staying at 
his house; and one morning, at the breakfast-table, 





172 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


told him that he would be very glad to learn that both 
of his gardeners had been converted that morning.— 
He was somewhat surprised, but, of course, glad to ~ 
hear it. In the course of the day, in conversation with 
them, he told them he was glad to hear of their con- 
version. “They could not say that they were convert- 
ed, but the gentleman had come and talked to them, 
and had read some verses out of the Bible and asked 
them if they believed it, and they had said they did;” 
and that was all. 


Conversion! The most wonderful thing that ever 
comes to a human soul is conversion; the translation 
from darkness into light, from the kingdom of Satan 
into that of God. Joy of heaven—joy of earth! One 
of the old Methodist preachers grandly explodes these 
sham conversions. He says: “The salvation of a soul 
is heart-work, not head-work; it begins with a broken 
heart; it becomes a peaceful heart; salvation cannot be 
learned or got by rote, this way: ‘Did Jesus die for 
all men? Yes. Then did not Jesus die foryou? Yes. 
Are not youaman? Yes. Do you believe that? Yes. 
Is it not true that he that believeth shall be saved? 
Yes. You believe; then clearly you are saved!’ O 
this salvation by syllogisms is a delusion. ‘Jesus died 
for me,’ minified into the mere premise of an argument 
on impenitent lips, is as worthless as any shibboleth 
bigot ever pronounced. Precious truths, so held, are 
as harmless as seed-corn in a mummy’s hand. Thou- 
sands can get through the narrow step of that poor 
mental exercise, only to realize that in its bosom lies a 
sophism, and that its conclusion is a lie.”—Thomas 
Collins. : 

“We know that we have passed from death unto 
life,” is the testimony of every saved soul. “If any 
man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are 
passed away; behold all things are become new;” and 
some who will read these pages may go down to death 
from festive scenes. No terrible storm to wreck the 
vessel—no rock on which she shall strike and founder 


» ana lll Sahl ac Ai A 





Lr 


~ THE GREAT UNCERTAINTY OF HUMAN LIFE. 1473 


—but, like the ‘‘ Royal George,” as with banners float- 
ing, and music playing, while hundreds gazed upon 
her, she went down with 800 human souls on board. O 
death, thou comest everywhere; no wisdom, no fore- 
thought, can shut thee out of our homes; thou mayest 
at any hour come and lay thy hand upon our hearts 
and they will cease to beat. At the altar, but a few 
weeks ago, a bride fell speechless, and death claimed 
her as his own. A man stood looking at himself in the 
glass, and remarked, “that he looked so well.” Ere 
the shades of evening fell, he was cold in death; and 
the spirit had returned to God who gave it. What 
says the Word of God? ‘What is your life?” and then 
for us He answers the question: ‘ It is even as a vapor, 
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth 
away.” 

“And can it be,” you say, “that my life is so frail 
athing?” Yes, yes, it isso, for God has said so. We 
read that after God had created Adam out of the dust 
of the earth, and fashioned with skill every part of 
that wondrous body, he was without life. ‘And God 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man 
became a living soul.” ‘‘What,” says one, ‘is death? 
A breath from the Almighty blowing out the flame of 
life.” 

We were at a camp-meeting in Illinois, some years ~ 
ago. The Doxology had just been sung, and the meet- 
ing was about to be dismissed, when I felt the strong 


‘promptings of the Spirit to speak on these words: 


“What is your life?” I told how I had watched from 
our bridges in Chicago the vapors ascending from the 


fire-engines, and even while looking they vanished 


away. I knew the Lord had a message that night to 


- some heart—a dast message. It was Sabbath, and during 


the day a man had been very profane and showing 
much hostility to the work of God. The meeting was 
dismissed, and a dear sister and her son, driving home, 
heard behind them the sound of mocking; the ‘Glory 
to God” and ‘“‘Praise the Lord,” on the lips of an un- 





174 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


saved sinner, are all unlike the praises of the redeemed; 
and she said to her son, ‘“ That is from beneath; let. 
that man pass.” They drew to one side, and the man 
passed on. When they reached the village they found 
he had been thrown from his buggy and lay dying. 
God had emphasized His Word that night. O, beloved, 
our breath is in our nostrils, and we are “crushed be- 
fore the moth.” 


“Ten thousand to their endless home 

This solemn moment fly; 

And we are to the margin come, 
And we expect to die. 

His militant, embodied host, 
With wishful looks we stand, 

And long to see that happy coast, 
And reach the heavenly land.” 


SHALL WOMEN PREACH THE GOSPEL? 

In the opening of the gospel dispensation, when, 
on the day of Pentecost, the cloven tongues sat upon 
men and women alike, and ‘“‘they began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance,” the 
Apostle Peter explained it by referring to a prophecy 
given by the prophet Joel: ‘Your sons and your daugh- 
ters shall prophesy; also upon the servants and hand- 
maidens, in those days, will I pour out my Spirit.” 

An angel commissioned the women at the sepul- 
chre to go and tell the disciples “to go into Galilee,” 
and on their way Jesus met them, giving them the 
same commission; and shall a seal be put on her lips 
now? Wedo not know that the Lord commissioned 
the woman at the well of Samaria, after she had found 
He was the Messiah, to go and tell it in Sychar; but 
we know she went, and as she came back with a whole 
crowd of those who had believed the message, me- 
thinks the Savior looked up, as they wended their way 
to Him, and then uttered the words: “ Lift up your 
eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already 
to the harvest.” He had sown the seed on that heart; 
there was the harvest. 


WOMAN AS AN EVANGELIST. 175 


- Hebrew scholars tell us that the literal translation 
of the words found in the Iith verse of the 68th Psalm: 
“The Lord gave the word, great was the company of 
those that published it,” is: ‘“of the woman preachers 
there was a great host.” 


But the great objection has been from the words 
of Paul himself: ‘‘ Let your women keep silence in the 
churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; 
but they are commanded to be under obedience, as 
also saith the law; and if they will learn anything, let 
them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for 
women to speak in the church.” 1 Cor. 14:34. ‘But I 
suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority 
over the man, but to be in silence,’ or quietness. 
eek im. 2712. 

Now we have to find out the exact meaning of St. 
Paul’s words. In the same epistle to the church at 
Corinth, he favors women prophesying; and Philip, the 
evangelist, had four daughters who did prophesy. Are 
we not to understand from this, one who spoke under 
the direct influence of the Holy Spirit? not in its pri- 
mary sense does the word prophesy mean to foretell 
future events; “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit 
of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. ‘He that prophesieth 
speaketh unto men to edification, to exhortation, and 
comfort.” 1 Cor. 14:3. How does this differ from 
preaching? Paul gives particular directions as to her 
attire. ‘“‘Every woman,” he says, “who prayeth or 
prophesieth with her head uncovered, does it in an un- 
comely way;” puts off that which is a badge of female 
modesty in public assemblies; a distinction between 
the two sexes which, through all the Bible, is so care- 
fully taught. Surely we never err more than when we 
would take from men the supremacy that God from 
the creation has given him. But in the glorious privi- 
lege of being co-workers in bringing back a lost world 
to Himself, women surely share. If woman may 
prophesy, surely she may preach, proclaiming the way 
of life. 


176 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


What, then, did the apostle mean by those words 
of prohibition? In reading carefully the epistle to the 
Corinthian church, we find that great spiritual gifts 
had been conferred upon them, but a great deal of 
confusion and lawlessness had crept in. In the syna- 
gogues it was lawful to stop the speaker to ask ques- 
tions, and so on; no doubt causing much of a clamor. 
Paul, referring to it, says: “If they” (the women) ‘will 
learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.” 

Infinite wisdom marks all the government of God. 
A favorite expression of Madam Guyon was: “I nour- 
ish myself on the daily providences of God.” He 
opens the way to every woman He would call to 
preach His gospel. ‘ Behold I have set before you an 
open door.” The apostle Apollos, an eloquent man, 
and mighty in the Scriptures, in the providence of 


God, finds his way to the home of Priscilla and Aquila, 


and they teach him the way of God more perfectly. 
The great requisite is a yearning, tender love for souls. 
freedom from all the dross of worldly ambition, and 
from every wish to rule or to usurp authority in the 
church. When she tries to rule, ruin is almost sure to 


follow; but as the help-meet, the adviser—yea, the 


Aaron and the Hur to hold up the hands of those to 
whom God has delegated the government—she is a 
true help for him. 

And, best of all, God has indorsed—put His own 
seal to her work, by saving multitudes of souls. In 
the last century he called forth many whose names 
will be in everlasting remembrance: Elizabeth Fry, 
whose voice was heard publicly, for the first time, in 
the awful prison of Newgate, London, where women 
were herded together like cattle, and multitudes of 
those who had been thought too degraded for any 
influence to reach them, were brought as bright jewels 
to sparkle in the kingdom of heaven forever; Mrs. 
Fletcher, Miss Barrett and Ann Cutler—and, in later 
times, Mrs. Booth, wife of the General of the Salvation 
Army; and a whole host of women who are spreading 








— 





A MARRIAGE “IN THE LORD.” 177 


the glad news of salvation in every quarter of the 
great earth. 
MARRIAGE. 


“And there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee,” 
and Jesus crowned the joyful occasion with His pres- 
ence, and still comes, when invited; for He is ‘the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” In reading the 
Life of Mrs. Fletcher, we learn that for many years 
there had been a strong attachment between her and 
the seraphic John Fletcher; but circumstances had 
prevented their union. Never, perhaps, had the pres- 
ence of Jesus been more realized than at that wedding. 

“As Mr. Fletcher was reading the mutual duties of hus- 
bands and wives, so beautifully defined in God’s Word, 
he repeated: ‘‘ Wives, submit yourselves to your hus- 
bands,” when the bride added, ‘‘In the Lord.” “Yes, 
my dear,” was the immediate rejoinder; ‘‘and if I ever 
wish you to do anything contrary to-the Lord’s will, 
resist me with all your might.” Very exactly is every- 
thing adjusted in God’s Word, not only according to 
His will, but forthe supreme happiness of His creat- 
ures; therefore, says the Psalmist, ‘‘I consider Thy 
precepts concerning all things to be right.” The poet 
Cowper speaks of domestic bliss as ‘the only bliss 
that has survived the fall.” Surely, no place so blessed 
as the family circle, after the divine copy; and surely 
domestic strife is about the sorest ill of human life. O 

_ the ruin and desolation I have seen in these lives!—the 
wife imperious, determined to rule or reign; the chil- 
dren soon rising up to dispute her authority, and con- 
fusion all through, mark these homes. 


“The kindest and the happiest pair 
Will find occasion to forbear; 

- And something, every day they live, 
To pity, and perhaps forgive.” 


My husband being unsaved, often we would see 
differently. Many times, as I would feel the movings 
_of the Spirit to go here and there to work for the Lord, 





178 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


I would mention it to him, and at first there would be 
decided objection, and then the words would so often 
be applied: ‘“‘The Lord shall fight your battles, and 
you shall hold your peace.” I remember very well, at 
the time of the Western Holiness Convention at Jack- 
sonville, in 1880 (the last time I left the city before he 
passed away in April), the church appointed me its 
delegate, and on telling husband he objected: ‘Too 
far to go in the depths of winter;” and the next day, 
stronger still, he objected to my going. The conven-. 
tion was to commence On the 15th of December; and, 
as we sat together on the evening of the 13th (the sub- 
ject had not been mentioned again), husband reading 
the newspaper, the paper was laid down, and opening 
his pocket-book he took from it a ten-dollar bill and 
handed it to me, saying: ‘ Will that be enough to pay 
your expenses to Jacksonville?”” O how the Lord had 
undertaken the case for me; praise His holy name! 
What a blessed meeting of God’s people; it was never 
to be forgotten! 

““Confess your faults one to another, and pray one 
for another.” How many people know nothing of the 
sweetness it brings to one’s own heart to confess; the 
Lord has always held me so strictly to this. O it does 
not, as some think, lower us in the estimation of others, 
but brings a tenderness and a fellowship of feeling. 
Said a dear sister, whose married life was one of pecu- 
liar happiness: ‘‘We always have a mourners’ bench 
in our home, where we get down and confess and pray 
one for another.” Homes full of alienation and sad- 
ness to-day, would soon be filled with love and peace 
were these full, deep confessions made to each other 
and to God. 

Said a dear sister once, speaking of the alienation 
which often comes in betwixt the dearest friends: “If 
the devil can only get anything betwixt you, if it is no 
thicker than the blade of a knife, he will do it.” Out 
laboring, some time ago, when from the hour of enter- ~ 
ing the home where I stopped during the meeting, I 


MARRIAGE ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE. 270 


felt it was like stepping into an ice-house, the aliena- 
tion was so complete betwixt husband and wife. The 
enemy had been sowing tares. In a little while both 
had opened their hearts to me, each thinking the other 
one at fault. Nothing but just simply love had died 


out, and imaginary faults and slights had been dwelt 


on and magnified, until they had become like a moun- 
tain of separation between them. How I tried to labor 
with both, and the last morning, as we stood around 
the stove, we three together, I said: ‘There ought to 
be a wedding in this house—a remarriage.” Just the 
confessing to each other, the breaking down before the 
Lord, the tender watchfulness over themselves, and 
pleading with the Lord, and there would again blossom 
in that house peace, joy and love. 

The Word of God is so full of instruction in regard 
to these things that none need be in darkness. Whole 
books are written teaching people their mutual duties 
and obligations. Herein the Bible is light enough for 
everything; no mixture there; no homes made desolate 
by following its teachings, as many homes are to-day. 
Still go to the law and the prophets; if men speak not 
according to their teachings, ‘it is because there is no 
light in them;” and then the further revelations of our. 
Savior and His apostles bring light on every subject. 
What teachings to-day? People wise above what is 
written; but all would be righted by the careful study 
of the seventh chapter of First Corinthians, and 
kindred passages on this subject. 

EUNICE COBB. 


About this time, at the St. Charles camp-meeting, 
I met with Mrs. Eunice Cobb, one of God’s saints, who, 
like Enoch of old, ‘“‘ walked with God,” and on whose 
face, as legibly as on the brow of the high priest, was 
written, “Holiness unto the Lord.” Obtaining and 
living this blessing before its revival and teaching by 
Dr. and Mrs. Palmer and Bishop Hamline, the band 
used of God to revive its teaching, the Holy Spirit 
convicted her of living the life of a careless, worldly 


180 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


professor, and she awoke to seek the Lord with all her 
heart. With all the trappings and adornments of the 
world upon her, the axe was laid at the root of the tree 
—this great tap-root of woman’s pride and idolatry, to 
which most women burn incense all their days. Under 
the deep-searching light of the Holy Spirit, she made 


her full consecration to God, deeper than even the 


written Word directly teaches, and the Lord revealed 
to her His will : Not only as to every Christian woman, 
the gold and pearls and costly apparel to be laid off, 
but hers to be the dress of a servant; and for forty 
years and more her dress had been of blue calico. She 
would love to say, referring to it : “ Mine is the dress 
of a servant, and I ama servant of the Lord Jesus 
Christ.” Also, the same Teacher led her into other 
paths of self-denial ;-to endure hardships ; never to 
ride when she could walk, often walking six or seven 
miles toa quarterly meeting. Once, when the roads 
were unusually bad with mud and ice, she said; “It 
seemed as though I was lifted over the worst places.” 


Yea, and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus 
shall suffer persecution ; the nearer the walk with Je- 
sus, the more of it. Soon after the plain garb had been 
adopted, she met, on the street, a lady who had been 
more than a common acquaintance ; as she looked on 
her plain dress, she swept by with a look of contempt, 
not deigning to notice her. ‘And have I,” came the 
painful thought to. her heart, ‘“‘so separated myself 
from everybody?” Ina moment the Spirit lifted up 


the standard and a dazzling robe, and above it she saw 


a bright crown, while the words were spoken to her: 
“ You shall come and wear these.” How hallowed is 
every incident connected with this saintly woman; 
memory loves to linger; but I must pass on. The last 
time I saw her we crossed the lake to a camp-meeting 
in Michigan, In passing over a very rough road, the 
country seemed new, and in the deep hollows had been 
thrown logs of wood. As we journeyed ina wagon, 
the jolting must have been hard on her feeble frame, 





ry | 


eae 








AN EXPERIENCE OF DISOBEYING GOD. 181 


but no word of complaint fell from her lips ; and, like 
tke honey-dew, words of praise and thanksgiving drop- 
ped from her lips continually. 


Sabbath morning dawned on the camp-ground. 
it was a morning of wondrous beauty: We had no 
tabernacle but the waving trees above us, nature’s own 
temple, and the bluedome of heaven. We were just 
singing the hymn which preceded the preaching, when 
rsuch a sense of the Savior’s presence came over me as 
I shall never forget, while the words were spoken: 
“Stand forth and say: ‘Behold the Lamb of God!” I 
stopped to reason; the preacher, Bro. Terrill, had 
already opened his Bible ; a number of ministers were 
on the stand; and it would look so presumptuous, said 
the enemy. I faltered, hesitated,and disobeyed. And 
O how the glorious light went out of my soul. In a 
few hours I sought Mrs. Cobb, to tell her my trouble. 
How she helped me! ‘Confess it all to the Lord,” 
she said; ‘don’t let the condemnation rest on you ; 
and tell Him you will never disobey Him again.” 
The last morning we mingled our prayers together, 
we parted to meet no more on earth ; 


‘“And yet once more, I trust to have 
Full sight of thee in heaven.” 


A dear brother who was with her in the closing 
scene said: ‘Mother Cobb, you have made yourself 
very peculiar, for Jesus’ sake ; now you are so near the 
end, does it pay?” Lifting up her hands in holy tri- 
umph, she said ; “It pays, it pays! Victory, victory, 
eternal victory!” A tablet marks where all that is 
mortal of Eunice Cobb rests until the resurrection 
morn, and on it is inscribed: ‘‘Many daughters have 
done virtuously, but thou excellest them all,” while 
across is just dropping from the uplifted hand and 
over itisacrown. ‘Be thou faithful unto death and I 
will give thee a crown of life.” And still these are the 


~ words of our Lord Jesus Christ. 


In the early experience of holiness, and seeing so 


1822. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 





. 
= 
7 
- 
-. 


much of the hindrance to God’s work in fine dress, 
conformity to the world, etc., Mrs. Cobb very plainly 
and earnestly bore her testimony against it. -This 
caused offence, and on one occasion the presiding 
elder called on her and wished her to desist. Natur- 
ally gentle and amiable, she promised not to do it any 
more. She realized how deep were the teachings of 
the Lord, as He withdrew from her much of the light 
and joy of His presence ; teaching her for all of future, 
life that she must be faithful unto Him. 


FROM HER DIARY. 


“It appears to me that I might easily get sour in 
this age of pride and worldly display in the church, 
and no less in the pulpit than in the pew, but I must not. 
Perfect love keeps sweet to sweeten others. I feel, 
too, that I might easily drift with the church in the 
worldly current, but I must not. Perfect love dwells 
only in the bosom of simplicity. True religion is 
severe in simplicity. ‘O for more laborers in this har- 
vest,” and we shall have them when we get this bap- 
tism of fire. Othe buried talents in all our churches ; 
gifted, educated women, who would be a power in © 
their generation while living, and, dying, their works 
would follow them—who are now a mere cipher in the ‘ 
church for the want of entire living for God. O for ’ 
more holy women! Amen and amen.” 

On this point the Lord once taught me a iesson, 
which has often been useful to me since I have been 
out laboring in his cause. I saw in some of the work- 
ers what seemed to me something quite out of place’ 
and wrong. I talked to them about it with much ear- \ 
nestness and vehemence. After getting alone, on my 
knees before God, these words came to me: “ You did 
not show much of the meek and lowly spirit of the 
Lamb of God this morning.” I thought it was the 
Spirit, and began to confess, but, some way, it seemed 
as though I had no access. Then came the words, 
with the scene inthe temple: ‘And they remembered 
it was written of Him, the zeal of thine house hath 


TRUTH AND ERROR IN FAITH-HEALING. 183 


eaten me up.” How plain the Lord made it to me ; 
the zeal for self and for His holy cause are different ; 
and He greatly blessed me there. ‘“ Thou shalt not 
suffer sin upon thy neighbor; thou shalt in any wise 
reprove him.” O how much of this faithful dealing 
we need with each other. The Psalmist knew its value 
when he said: “Let the righteous smite me, and it 
shall be an excellent oil, that shall not break my head.” 


GRACE AND BLESSING IN SICKNESS, AND DIVINE 
HEALING THROUGH FAITH. 


Who among us, the redeemed of the Lord, have 
not experienced, like the sweet singer of Israel, that it 
was good for us to have been afflicted? How sweet 
and tender the hallowed influence that falls upon the 
heart in times of sickness, when the swift current of 
human life is checked, and we have more time to com- 
mune with our risen Lord and our own hearts. 


“Times of refreshing to the soul, 
With sickness oft He brings ; 
Prepares it then to meditate 
On high and holy things. 
“T would not, but have passed those depths, 
And such communion known 
As may be had in this border-land, 
With Thee and Thee alone.” 


How we know, from blessed experience, that our 
heavenly Father does not “willingly afflict, or grieve 
the children of men,” but that we might be “ partakers 
of His holiness”; and while we faint not under the 
chastening rod, it yieldeth to us “the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness.” 

What extreme 





what unscriptural views many of 


_God’s children are being drawn into in regard to the 


healing of the sick, grieving many of God’s afflicted 
ones by harsh judgments. But, say these teachers of 
indiscriminate healing, ‘‘ Does not the Word of God 
say : ‘And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and 
he shall be healed?’” Yes, beloved ; surely they are 


184 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. : 





the words of holy inspiration; and-when the Holy 
Spirit aids you in thus praying (Romans 8:26, 27), the 
healing will surely come, but no amount of will-power 
can do the work. This faith is given of God. Shall I 
give you an experience the Lord gave me some four 
years ago? Out in the country, laboring, the weather 
cold and damp, the long rides to the home where I was 
staying brought ona severe cold and cough, with much 
general prostration. Simple remedies were tried, with 
nursing and care, and though the cough became less 
troublesome, there seemed no general rally. It seemed 
as though it might be the first stages of consumption. 
The promises respecting healing would often come to 
my mind, but evermore, as I would lay the matter be- 
fore the Lord in prayer, I felt a sweet sinking into His 
will. ‘It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth good 
to Him.” O the indescribable sweetness of lying pas- 
sive in His hands, where ‘the clamor of self is over,” 
and we know that living or dying we are the Lord’s ; to 
abide and labor on, or 


‘Stretch our glad wings and mount away 
To mingle with the blaze of day.” 


The cold of winter passed, and “the singing of 
birds was heard in the land,” when the movings of the - 
Spirit came to go out again and labor in the great 
harvest-field. Knowing the voice of the great Lord of 
the harvest, I started in all my weakness, believing His 
strength would be all-sufficient for my every need. I 
probably had been in the work a week, when one morn- 
ing, on first awakening, these words came with great 
force: “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and 
not live.” I thought at first it was from the Lord, and 
began to consider: Was everything settled? Had I 
not better at once return to Chicago? As thoughts 
began to run out in that direction, solemn indeed was 
the thought of the ending of life here, which might be 
very near, and yet no shade of fear. 

An hour might have. passed, when with such a 





ABRAHAM AS OUR EXAMPLE. 185 


thrill of unearthly power these words came to me: 
“Thou shalt not die, but live, and declare the works of 
the Lord.” What lifein the words! ‘The words that 
I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.” 
Shouts of triumphant joy burst from my lips. Body 
and soul, in that hour, were touched with the healing 
power, and from that day I do not remember to have 
been laid aside for a day, save when I have overworked. 
“ Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !” 





CHAPTER XV. 


SalD a noted evangelist: ‘‘When I want a thor- 
ough heart-humbling, I sit down and read the life of 
Abraham, ‘the father of the faithful-—the friend of 
God.’” How came he into the possession of a title so 
glorious? Not by natural descent—O no; but by a 
love and obedience so greatly beyond that of most 
of the children of men. Away in his own country, 
among his own people, he heard that voice: “ Get thee 
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
father’s house, into a land that I will show thee.” Abra- 
ham’s country and kindred were as dear to him as ours 
are to us, but he obeyed. And in one way or another, 
the Lord of glory appears to all of us—how suddenly 
—often all unlooked-for. Said a brother-in-law to me 
once: ‘When I am riding over my farm and watching 
the setting sun, and everything looks so splendid, there 
is such a feeling of despondency and misery comes 
over me.” The God of glory appeared unto him in 
warning; these warning voices come to us all through 
life. But Abraham obeyed the voice of God, and went 
into that place where no foot of land, save for a burying- 
ground, would ever be his own; but the almighty God 
was “his shield and his exceeding great reward,” and 
every meve had a reference to God’s will. The great 
caravan had moved, and when they came to a halting- 


186 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


place, before, it may be, the first meal is eaten, there 
Abraham built an altar unto the Lord. The twelve 
stones are laid in their places, the lamb is laid in sacri- 
fice, the fire is kindled, and as the smoke of the offer- 
ing ascends, the God of glory meets Abraham there, 
and he looks forward to that one sacrifice “for the sins 
of the whole world.” That beautiful land, in which he 
is only a sojourner, is to be peopled by his own de- 
cendants. The years pass on, and they are childless, 
but, trusting in God, he “staggers not at the promises 
of God through unbelief, but is strong in faith, giving 
glory to God.” And the Lord tells him to look on the 
midnight sky, and as numerous as are the stars so shall 
be his posterity. But age is creeping on, and the loved 
companion of his life, the beautiful Sarah, is aged. To 
nature, the promise seems impossible ever to be made 
good, and through her unbelief and plannings much 
sorrow has been brought to her heart and home; and 
when the promise comes through an angel, she laughs a 
laugh of incredulity and unbelief. O how this unbelief 
has robbed most of us of many blessings! 


“Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
And scan His works in vain; 
God is His own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain. 


“Deep in unfathomable mines, 
With never-failing skill, 
He treasures up His vast designs, 
And works His sovereign will.” 


Years after, comes the crowning test of faith; this 
is beyond every other. ‘Take now thy son, thine only 
son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land 
of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering.” 
O wondrous faith! wonderful confidence in God; won- 
derful obedience! The three days’ journey, the altar 
built, the loved son laid on it, the knife uplifted, the 
hand arrested, the testimony to full and perfect conse- 
cration given, the ram discovered caught in a thicket, 
the sacrifice—God to all generations holding him up as 





s") -) i 


BRO. ROBERTS’ LAST HOURS. 187 


our example: ‘Father of the faithful, and friend of 
God.” 





One of the first preachers I ever heard on holiness 
was the Rev. B. T. Roberts, the first Superintendent of 
the Free Methodist Church, walking with God as did 
Enoch, the praises of God continually on his lips. I 
do not know that I ever met him but as our hands 
clasped the first words would be, “ Praise the J.ord, Sis= 
ter Cooke,” and the response ever, ‘I do, Brother Rob- 
erts.” Like a shock of corn fully ripe, he was gathered 
into the garner. In the closing scene he would ofter. 
‘praise the Lord” with great fervency. Among his 
last words, after relief from extreme pain had come, he 
said: “Amen— 

“Jesus, the name that charms our fears, 
That bids our sorrows cease; 
*Tis music in the sinner’s ears, 
’Tis life and health and peace.” 

As Psalm 110, and a part of the rooth, were read 
at family worship, he responded to every petition. He 
often tried to sing, but his articulation was imperfect, 


“saying: “How good those old hymns are!” When 


passing through the valley, he said: ‘He has come at 
last, praise the Lord! I have lived for this hour, praise 
the Lord! Amen;” and the pure spirit passed to join 
the innumerable multitude around the throne. The 
loved partner of his life was not with him as he passed 
away, and when the shock came there was a tumult of 
sorrow. ‘‘When,” she says, ‘‘I was calm enough to 
hear God’s voice, He said, ‘ Did not I take my servant 
Aaron to Mount Hor to die, and Moses away from his 
people to Mount Nebo? My ways are not your ways.’” 
And the great sea of her soul, that swelled itself with 


waves, was stayed on God. 


Perhaps no sweeter, deeper letter of sympathy 
(may it cheer many a mourning heart) was ever written 
than one to our dear sister from M. H. Mossman, Ocean 
Grove, March 2, 1893: 





188 WAYSIDE. SKETCHES. : an 


‘‘My Own BELovED: Is itso? Has our precious ~ 


brother outstripped us in the race? Is the last pain 
past, and is he now to be forever in glory? Is it so? 
Well, then we must forget ourselves and at once take 
up the rejoicing. The Bible does not tell us to rejoice 
for those who do rejoice, but ‘with those,’ as one with 
them. Who should excel in this as you, his closest 
companion? As you would look back upon yourself 
and surroundings, you would feel a void, a crushing 
loneliness, but that look is not for you; you are to come 


right to the living God and have Him fill the void with 


Himseif—fill it to overflowing. Thus, according to 
your measure, your joys will be equal and one. with his, 
and you will never know a separation. Amen.” 

One of his most loved friends, Mr. Hawkins, a 
kindred spirit, passing from earth, on the very portals 
of glory repeated: . ; 
‘“On the nethermost banks of the sunlit, swelling tide, 

Departed forever from earth’s solemn strife; 

’Midst the beautiful fields on the Paradise side, 

I shall lave in the crystaline waters of life.” 


O well might the man whose eyes were opened 


by the Almighty say, ‘Let me die the death of the . 


righteous, and let my last end be like his.” ‘ Precious 
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” 





“Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand.”—Matt.. 3:2. 

The whole land of Palestine was stirred by the cry 
that a prophet had arisen there. Nearly four hundred 
years had passed since Malachi had _ closed his 
prophecies with the promise that “ the Lord would 
send Elijah; that he should come before the great and 
terrible day of the Lord.” Inthe desert of Judea, he 
comes. Prophecy and miracle had attended his birth ; 
the angel Gabriel had foretold that ‘the should be great 
in the sight of the Lord and filled with the Holy 
Ghost.” Expectation had been raised, and people 
hastened to hear; the priests, the’men of culture, the 


. 





ee ee 


A SEASON OF ILLNESS. 189 


Pharisees and the scribes go; one message meets them 
all—the tillers of the soil, the soldier, the civilian, a 
motley company of every class; they gather around 
him; one theme for all—one message for ll 
—the call to repentance and the coming 
of the kingdom of God. ‘ Will you,” said the Lord 
to a preacher, as before his mind’s eye he brought 
a great company—the poor, the rich, the learned, the 


'ignorant—“will you preach the same gospel to all?” 


“J will.” How the Lord tested the fidelity of that 
holy man of God. A prosperous man came to the al- 
tar, to seek the blessing of holiness. True to his office- 
work, the Holy Ghost revealed to him that all his 
property must be laid on God’s altar; there was a 
struggle then, and he drew back, saying, ‘the price is 
too much.”” Soon he back-slid entirely. Years passed 
away, and he was laid on a sick-bed, when the Lord 


asked this preacher: “Will you preach this man’s 


funeral sermon from the text, ‘Died Abner asa fool 
dieth?’ Othere wasan unutterable shrinking; but, true 
to God, the promise was made. The man died, the 
sermon was preached, and much anger and reproach 
followed, but God’s approval was on his faithfulness. 


A long walk taken through deep snow brought on 
a severe cold, which settled on my lungs and swiftly 
passed into bronchitis. There was then a feeling of 
separation from all the earth, and that 1 might soon 
pass through the “valley of the shadow of death ;” 
yea, I believe I did pass through ; but His Word there 
was my shield and buckler, as it would again come to 
meso sweetly : ‘‘ He hath brought life and immortality 
to light through the gospel.” One day a loved friend 
came to see me, and I told her that the Lord had not 
yet made it plain to me whether He would take me to 
Himself or raise me up. She said, ‘‘ You are not going 
to die; we on the South Side of the city are taking 


~hold of God for you.” From that hour the disease 
- was rebuked; but I was very weak, and the doctor 


had told me I must not think of going out of doors 





190 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


until the weather had changed and it had grown quite 
warm, or I might havea relapse. I had just lighted 
the lamp one evening, when a voice said to me: “Go 
to the Chicago Avenue Church.” “I am not well 
enough,” was the quick response ; and again: “ Go to 
the Chicago Avenue Church,” was repeated. I knew 
the voice: His sheep hear His voice, and they knowit; 
and though the wind was blowing, and the rain dashing 
on the windows, I prepared to obey. 


I had been so taken up with the command and 
obeying it, that I had not even looked at the time- 
piece, and reached the church just as the janitor was 
lighting it. I was much blessed as I sat there wait- 
ing for the service to begin. The leader read, asa 
lesson, a partof the seventh chapter of Romans, 
explaining it as the experience of the great apostle ; 
then he spoke of the delusions of those who thought 
they could be holy in this life. ‘I see it, my Lord,” I 
said ; ‘‘I see it; Thou hast brought me here as a wit- 
ness ;” and as soon as my turn came, O how the Spirit 
helped me to tell that for years I had known no better 
way. How the flesh would war against the Spirit, but 
deliverance had come, and He who had given the com- 
mand, “ Be ye holy, for I am holy,” had made provis- 
ion forit. Jesus had suffered without the gate that he 
might sanctify the people with His own blood. I told 
of the struggle to yield up all to God—to lay every- 
thing on the altar; but when the consecration was 
complete the work was quickly done, and the kingdom 
of God, “which is not meat and drink, but righteous- 
ness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” was set up 
in my heart, with a sense of purity in my soul that 
none can tell but those who have passed into its 
blessedness. 

When I came in sight of home, I thought : ‘What 
will my husband say?” and I feared he would be quite 
displeased ; and so he would have been had not the 
Lord undertaken my case. He looked up, as I entered, 
saying: ‘What ever made you go out such a night as 


THE DEATH OF MY HUSBAND. Igor 


this?” Going up to him and putting my hand on his 


- shoulder, and looking into his face, I said: “ John,I 


had to go.” Methinks my Lord had told where the 
command came from, for he answered me not a word. 





MY HUSBAND'S DEATH. 

“JT will make with you an everlasting covenant,” 
said Jehovah to his ancient people, ‘ordered in all 
things and sure.” Vividly, asif only spoken yester- 
day, came back to me, on that last night of my hus- 


-band’s life, the words of the holy man of God ( Mr. 


Cecil,) who, as we stood at the altar together, in loving, 
tender words admonished us, husband and wife, of our 
mutual duties to each other ; adding : ‘‘ Remember that 
one will have to stand at the other’s death-bed.”” Near- 
ly twenty-five years had passed since that covenant 
was made, and now it was about to terminate. My 
husband had been prostrated by sickness for about five 
weeks ; having been seized first, one Sabbath afternoon, 
with a very acute pain in the chest, which the doctor 
pronounced neuralgia. After intense pain for abouta 
week, it subsided, but still he did not rally. We called 
in one of our first physicians, Dr. Davis, and he pro- 
nounced it inflammation of the lower part of the brain. 
He was often quite delirious, talking almost incessant- 
ly, and sleeping but little. During the last week he 
was more sensible and quiet, while news would come 
from every part of the city, “we are holding on to God 
for the salvation of his soul.” From the first of his 
being stricken, the one desire above every other was 
that he might be saved. O how good the Lord was in 
that time of need, sending in kind, loving Christian 
friends! 

As his sickness advanced he had become much 


more gentle and patient. 


Never in the whole of my life do I remember hav- 
ing had such a view of the all-sufficiency of the atone- 
ment as on one night, when the words thrilled my soul 
as they came right from the Lord: “ The wages of sin 


192 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through | 
Jesus Christ our Lord.” I have laid him there to die, 





was the deep impression on my heart. ‘Look up for — 


the gift,” came the response. Repeating to my hus- 
band the first words: “The wages of sin is death,” I 
said, trying to bring it right home to him; “but 
there are two sides—‘the gift of God is eternal life.’ 
Do you believe it?” ‘ Yes, I do,” was his answer. 

I repeated to him later that night— 


‘Just as I am, without one plea 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bids’t me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come.” 


He asked me to repeat it again. ‘‘ Do you,” said a 
beloved Christian brother, ‘believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ?” ‘I do,” he said with a firm voice. -A little 
later, and Bro. George Ferries repeated 


“Your latest sun is sinking fast, 
Your race is nearly run.” 


“It is,” he said; while from those dying lips would 
come, “Jesus, save me.” With my hand in his, and 
repeating two or three times my name, his breath grew 
shorter, and he peacefully passed away. How often I 
have wished the evidence had been clearer, but I thank 
God for a hope that he was saved, though “‘as by fire;” 
that this uttermost salvation had reached his case. 

The morning dawned when we were to lay him away 
in the house appointed for all living. My Bible lay 
open on the table, and as I looked down upon it, the 
first words that met my eyes were: ‘ Thy Maker is thy 
husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name.” Spirit and 
life direct to my heart; how faith grasped them as 
God’s own message that day to me; and, kneeling by 
that lifeless form, the covenant was sealed; for fifteen 
years how faithfully kept by my ‘covenant-keeping 
God!” 

To this day when any one speaks of me as a widow, 
I always feel like dissenting from it, The lonely void 











SS ie 


(See Pages 179, 181.) 





(See Pages 43, 46, 54,219.) 


i - 


“ALL I HAVE IS THE LORD'S.” 193 


is all filled with the presence of God. My Maker ts my 
husband. O, the all-sufficiency of our God for every 
need ! : 
“Our weariness of life is gone, 
Who live to serve our God alone, 
And only Jesus know.” 


For about a year after my husband’s death I 
would, at times, be greatly exercised about the property 
he left me—whether I ought to hold it or not. One 
night, on the St. Lawrence camp-ground, in Michigan, 
I was awakened again and again with these words: 
“Sell all that thou hast”; and I thought of the first dis- 


~ ciples—how the Lord told them not to lay up any 


treasures onearth. But nothing definite was ever put 
before me—no particular way to dispose of it. I took 
counsel with some I knew lived near to God, and in 
whom I had much confidence, and they all advised me 
to keep it, as they thought I could. use it myself more 
for the glory of God than to pass it onto any one else. 
Then I wrote a covenant: “I will look upon myself 
just as a steward ; all I have is the Lord’s. Not a dollar 
should be spent unnecessarily on myself; just my 
simple needs supplied ; and no demand that the Lord 
should make but I would meet.” And this He who 
searcheth the hearts knows had been my plan for many 
years before ; and if this was according to His will, 


“my soul might quietly rest. After this I had much 


more settled peace about ‘it, while the impression to 
help others—zostly those engaged in the Lord’s work— 
was given in these words: “ And her merchandise and 
her hire shall be holiness to the Lord ; and it shall not 
be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be 
for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, 
and for durable clothing.” Isaiah 23:18. In my Bible 
that verse is always underlined, and my initials under 
it, and carrying it out often brings much joy to my 
soul. 
“THEY SHALL TESTIFY OF ME.” 


Everything, in one way or another, brings its trib- 





194 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


ute to Him “who ever liveth,” ‘ God overall, blessed 
for -ever.”” During the French Revolution, when its 
leaders, who were haters of God as well as of men, did 
all in their power to blot out the remembrance of God ; 
closing all the churches ; making ten days, instead of 
seven, a week ; setting up a harlot as a goddess to be 
worshiped, instead of the God who made the heavens 
and the earth; then apparently God—the God whom 
they so hated—left them to themselves. All restraint 
was withdrawn; depth answered to depth; all the 
waves of sin rolled over that fair land of France, and 
all day long the guillotine did its fearful work, till the 
Revolution gained for all time the name of “The Reign 
of Terror.”. When Napoleon came into power, he re- 
instated Christianity, re-opened the churches, too far- 
seeing, and with an intellect too bright, for atheism or 
infidelity. One evening, walking on the terrace of 
his favorite villa, he observed to the company, among 
whom was Volney, the infidel historian : “ Religion is 
a principle which cannot be eradicated from the heart 
of man ;” and, looking up to the sky, which was clear 
and starry, he said: ‘‘Who made all of that? But last 
Sunday night,” he added, ‘I was walking here alone, 
when the church bells of the village of Ruel rang at 
sunset. I was strongly moved, so vividly did the 
image of early days come back with the sound. If it 
be thus with me, what must it be with others?” 
Pushing out a little farther, thou great conqueror, thou ~ 
mightest have found Jesus; submitting thy powerful 
will to His, thou mightest have been a polished shaft 
in His hands, have ruled in His fear, and saved thyself 
that life which became, in thy exile to St. Helena, the 
very horror of horrors. 


What has been the secret of the peaceful, prosper- 
ous reign of England’s Queen Victoria, for more than 
fifty years holding the sceptre, loving and beloved of 
her people? On the day of her coronation she said to 
her mother, the Duchess of Kent: “I shall perhaps 
become more accustomed to this Zoo great state ;”” and 


THE QUEEN’S DEPENDENCE ON GOD. 195 


that day the new-crowned queen passed some of the 
first hours of her reign on her knees, praying for her- 
self and her people. 

One writer has said: ‘‘ This English queen has the 
heart of gold, the will of iron, the royal temper of 
steel, and unyielding patriotism, with the deepest relig- 
ious feelings.” 

From the balcony of her palace she was overheard 
praying: “Almighty Father, this splendid palace is 
more congenial to me than my own gorgeous one; here 
can I breathe freely; here can I pour out my whole 
soul to Thee, and here can I know and feel that Thou 
hearest me. Look down, I beseech Thee, upon Thy 
poor orphan child, who hath no arm to rest upon but 
Thine. Placed upon the summit of a fearful height, to 
none but Thee can I look for help; but do Thou sup-. 
port me and lead me through the perilous path that I 
must tread. Thou understandest, Thou knowest that I 
am but one of Thy frail children, and more in need of 
Thy tender care and guidance than the meanest thing 
Thou hast created. And why should man not thus 
regard me; why does he expect me to be more than an 
erring child of nature? With Thee, my God, I enter 
into a covenant —help Thou me to keep it—that I 
will not be elated with the incense of man’s praise, 
that I will not be entangled by his snares, that I will 
not pamper to his ambition or listen to his intrigues, 
that I will not oppress the poor, whose claims are great 
~upon me—but I will nourish and protect them, that I 
may indeed deserve the title of ‘Mother of my people’ 
and obtain a blessing from Thee, which would be more 
precious to me than a crown of gold. I cannot fathom 
the depths of man, I dare not place implicit trust in 
him, but in the still hour of the night I will commune 
with Thee, O Lord, and do Thou instill wisdom into me 
and make me Thy trusty servant and useful monarch 
to the people over whom Thou hast given me do- 
minion.” 

How often, doubtless, the words spoken in the last 


196 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


hours of Israel’s greatest king must have strengthened 
and cheered her heart. The message to him was the 
same to her. God, the unchangeable, is always the 
same: ‘The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel 
spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just, 
ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light 
of the morning, when-the sun riseth, even a morning 
without a cloud; and as the tender grass springing out 
of the earth, by clear shining after rain.” 

Those who have watched that life know how ten- 
der that heart has been kept, how full of compassion 
and sympathy. When asked by an ambassador from 





an Oriental court (I think the court of Persia) the - 


secret of England’s greatness, the queen rose from her 
seat, and, taking the Bible from the table, placed it in 
his hands, saying: “That is the secret of all of Eng- 
land’s greatness.” 


Some one has wisely said: ‘One chapter ought to ~ 


be added to ‘ Volney’s Ruins of Empires,’ telling truly 
why those empires passed away.” Yea, verily; only 
one cause, and its Maker has given it: “ For the nation 
and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, 
those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Isa. 60: 12. 
During the years when Oliver Cromwell reigned 
in England under the name of the Protector (protector 
of the rights of God and man), the Duke of Savoy 
ordered all his subjects to come back again to the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, on penalty of the confiscation of 
their property and death. The command was rejected, 
and troops of soldiers were sent forth to spoil and kill, 
the whole Mountain of Piedmont becoming a scene of 
carnage, and the people, without respect to age or sex, 
were slain. The news reached England; the Protector 
was deeply moved, and ordered a day of fasting before 
God. He then wrote a letter to the Duke, telling him 
that if he did not stop his awful work, England’s fleet 
would soon land on his territory. God put the fear of 
England’s great power upon him; the work of persecu- 
tion stopped. No supine indifference marked the con- 





ALL THE LORD’S FOR ALL TIME. 107 


duct of these “soldiers of the cross, these followers of 
the Lamb.” The Protector called for a contribution 
for the sufferers, and £40,000 was raised; while Milton 
stirred the whole land by his poem, calling on God to 
avenge His people: 
“And the God who lived in Cromwell’s time, 
Is just the same to-day.” 


Can there be any motive so high as that of glori- 
fying God on the earth? When Madame Guyon was 
passing through much of domestic trouble and sorrow, 
she dreamed one night that she had reached the home 
of the blessed; there was the King in His beauty. The 
Prince of Peace, pointing her to the ocean spreading 
out before them, asked if she saw those swimmers, all 
trying to get to that shore? Yes, there they were, a 
whole company, as far as the eye could reach; and then 
He told her to go and help them. Her one work was 
to lead souls to the Lamb of God; but Jesus was hated 
in Paris; and for four years she was imprisoned 1 in the 
awful Bastile, yet singing there: 


“ A little bird am I, 
Shut in from fields of air; 
And in my cage I sit and sing 
To Him who placed me there; 
Well-pleased a prisoner to be, 
If so, my Lord, it pleaseth Thee.” 


= 


198 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


My Dear BROTHER IN CHRIST: What has been 
helpful to us in our own experience we are likely to 
think will be helpful to others ; and so this afternoon I 
take up my pen to write to you. How I do bless the 
Lord for your Christian life, your tender sympathy and 
helpfulness ; for the way the Lord has led you, for your 
life of self-denial and sacrifice in the work of the Lord. 
O, how truly “the Lord has done great things for you, 
whereof we are glad.” 


One thing, dear brother, I want to point out to you, — 


in which I think you might be greatly helped. The 
Apostle Peter speaks of “ girding up the loins of the 
mind.” And still another apostle says: “Let your 
speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” Do 
you not let time and thoughts run greatly to waste 


about things that are of no consequence and minister. 


no grace to the talker or to the listener ? and often your 
mind is weary,and when you read the Scriptures, or 
join in prayer, there is a lassitude about your manner 
almost amounting to indifference. Recollection ;acon- 
tinual seeking to have the mind stayed on God; as 
soon as what has necessarily taken up the attention has 
passed, then letting it centre again on God—this is to be 
‘“spiritually-minded.” Much of the conversation every- 
where, if not positively injurious, is little more profit- 
able than counting the grains of corn on acob. What 
rich returns the time thus spent would bring if passec| in 
prayer, inreading the Word, and in meditation : 


“Were half the breath thus vainly spent 
To heaven in supplication sent, 





- 


KEEPING A GUARD UPON THE LIPS. 199 


Your joyful cry would often be, 
Hear what the Lord has done for me.” 


No knowledge is so glorious for ourselves—none 
will bring such blessings to others—as a deep spirit- 
uality in our own hearts. John Smith, of holy memory, 
would say: “Get more of God,and you can diffuse 
more of God.” JI remember well that not long after 
my brother James was converted, a lawyer came down 


_ from London and was holding a series of meetings, 
making his home at my brother’s. He was so struck 


by his deep spirituality and joy in the Holy Ghost, that 
one day he asked him how it was that he, a lawyer, his 
time and thought so occupied, could be so spiritual. 
He answered that he had all his mind and thought on 
what he had to attend to, but as soon as through with 
it, his thoughts went up to God. How much the Old 
Testament saints knew of this : ‘‘ My meditation of Him 
shall be sweet”’ And wondrous are’the blessings on 
those who meditate on God’s promises night and day. 
“Blessing the Lord at all times, His praise is continu- 
ally on their lips.” O I tell you these old saints 
walked closely with God. A blessedly holy man from 
California (Brother Paterson), who was very quiet, 
gave as a reason that the will always followed the 
tongue ; and a greater than he has said, “In all labor 
there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to 
poverty.” Thesoul feels dry and parched after much 
talk. As we carefully watch the leadings of the Spirit, 
how He will reveal these things to us; then out of the 
abundance of the heart our lips will speak. If our 
thoughts have been dissipated, wandering after every- 
thing suggested by others, or letting the mind wander 
anywhere as it would, how little force and power 
there will be in our words; not coming from a full 
heart, they will have little influence with others. Paul, 
in the beautiful city of Ephesus, little cared or thought 
of its attractions, its buildings, the hundred and one 
things which would have taken up most of the thoughts 
of the worldly, of those whose minds are on earthly 


200 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


things. And he saw in every one a soul on its way to 
the glories of heaven, or to be forever lost; and so, 
when giving his parting charge to the elders at Miletus, 
he uttered these wondrous words. After commending 
to their care the flock of God, and warning them of the 
dangers, he adds: ‘“ Therefore watch, and remember 
that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn 
every man night and day with tears.” O my dear 


brother, pray that in our little measure we may know 


something of the yearning tenderness, that all-absorb- 

ing love for the lost ; redeeming the time for Him and 

His service. In Jesus’ most precious love, thine, 
SaraH A. COOKE. 


“The more we deny ourselves,” said Mrs. Cobb, 
“the freer we shall be from sin, and the dearer to 
God ; they that deny themselves will find their own 
strength increased, their affections raised, and their 
peace continually advanced. Let us not imagine that 
excess, luxury, superfluity and the love of pleasures 
are less displeasing to God because they are common.” 
Did not the very dress of the ancient prophets tend to 
foster that humility and holy courage that so richly 


distinguished them, that rugged independence of char-- 


acter, calling from the Savior that comment on his 
forerunner : ‘‘ What went ye out for to see? A man 
clothed in soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft 
clothing are in king’s houses.” But this man was a 
prophet—" yea, more than a prophet.” Not “a reed 
shaken by the wind.” How we need to beware of 
everything that fosters pride, the lordly“/7.” The 
human heart is the same in every age, in every clime. 
“Beware,” said the great Teacher, ‘‘of those who love 
the uppermost seats and the long robes.” The great- 
est prophets this world ever saw were clothed in the 
commonest clothing ; no priestly robes, no seeking the 
highest place among men, but all intent on advancing 
not their own, but God’s glory—" Peace on -earth and 
good will to men.” He, our Head, our Lord, our 
Master, our Teacher, our King, ‘‘made Himself of no 








THE HORRORS OF REMORSE. 7 -: 2or 


reputation, but took upon Him the form of a servant.” 
‘““\WARN THEM FROM ME.” 


“And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” How 
vividly these, and kindred words of awful warning, 
from the lips of our Savior have been brought before 
me to-day, by a scene at the close of our noon prayer- 
meeting. For more than a quarter of a century in 
Chicago this meeting has been held with only one 
intermission—the day of our great fire, when Farwell 
Hall was burned. There, day by day “the thoughts of 
many hearts are revealed,” and often 


“Heaven comes down our souls to greet, 
While glory crowns the mercy-seat.” 


To-day being Thanksgiving day, the attendance 
was quite small, but there wasa meeting of unusual 
interest. As we were leaving the room, we found a 
man in great distress. His sins like a mountain had 
risen before him, too great, he felt, to be ever forgiven. 
“T am such a sinner!” again and again he exclaimed. 
“You don’t know what a sinner I have been. I have 
broken all the commandments.” We tried to get his 
eyes off from himself to the Lamb of Calvary. ‘Don’t 
you believe,” a brother asked, “that Jesus tasted death 
for every man?” ‘“ Yes,” he answered, “for almost 
everybody, but not forme. Iam sucha sinner.” Then 
he asked again and’again, ‘“‘WuaT Is HELL? Isit real 
fire and brimstone, or is it remorse? Ihave got it now. 


For days it has been in my soul. It is remorse—‘the 


” 


worm that dieth not.’” It seemedas though at times 
reason staggered under the awful lashings of that 
awakened conscience. After a time of united prayer 
came a quiet over his spirit—the Dayspring from on 
high, the first faint hope that God’s mercy could reach 
him. Then we parted, with the promise of meeting 
again to-night at the Pacific Mission. 

How little there is in the preaching of these days 
to awaken and lead sinners to see their awful danger 





202 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


and to a deep, heart-felt sorrow for sin! God’s holy 
commandments, God’s hatred of sin, the law our 
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, are almost left out. 
O for the view Isaiah caught of God’s holiness when his 
train filled the temple, and the holy inhabitants of 
heaven veiled their faces with their wings as they cried 
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” this, the glory 
of the only-begotten of the Father, our Immanuel, 
the Lamb of God, and greater nearness to the Lord, 
would bring to all of us, asto the prophet, deeper, 
clearer views of sin, its exceeding sinfulness, and of the 
wrath of God for which it is always calling; and but for 
the intercession and atonement of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, hastening on all the wings of time comes the 
unsaved sinner’s awful doom, when his desolation shall 
come as a whirlwind, and distress and anguish shall be 
his bitter portion. Well might the yearning, tender 
heart of Paul o’erflow with warning every one at 
Ephesus,‘ night and day with tears,” to flee from the 
wrath tocome. Again, “‘ Awake thou that sleepest, and 
arise from the dead.” O how, without continued 
watchfulness and prayer, the drowsiness settles down 
on us! ‘Seeking every one his own, and not the 
things which are Jesus Christ’s.” 


Once, when Dr. Chalmers ( man of blessed mem- 
ory ) was traveling, a Scotch laird had expressed a 
wish to spend an evening in his society. Arrange- 
ments were made, and the evening passed very pleas- 
antly. The doctor was aman of great general infor- 
mation. The time was spent in talking of the poor- 
laws and kindred subjects belonging.to Scotland. Soon 
after parting, Chalmers heard a heavy groan in the 
room opposite his own. Hastening out, he found his 
companion of the evening, dying in the arms of his 
servant. With a countenance betraying deepest grief, 
he exclaimed : ‘‘ Now I know what the apostle meant 
when he said: Be instant in season and out of season. 
How differently, had I known this, would I have 
talked to him!” Opportunities come in our way to 





PROGRESS AND HUMILITY IN CHRISTIAN LIFE. 203 


direct others to Jesus, the Lamb of God, to warn them 
to flee from the wrath to come. We miss them, and 
THEY ARE GONE FOREVER. 


Dear BROTHER KENT: In Northern Wisconsin, 
up among the pine forests, I rode to Maple Grove, 
eight miles, amid the beauties of nature, unrestrained 
and free, and as beautiful, it seemed, as on the 
morning of creation. No human hand had made those 
forest trees, and flung everywhere the flowers of every 
hue. Everything there showed forth the praises of God. 
Lilies and morning-glories, and the royal flower of 
France, were there, and the woods were vocal with the 
songs of birds. Westarted from the last camp-meeting 
long before the break of day, and as we watched the 
first dawn of the morning light, we thought of the 
words of God’s inspired prophet: ‘Then shall ye 
know, if ye follow on to know the Lord, whose goings 
forth are prepared as the morning.” Gradually, as the 
light dawned, everything became clear to our vision. 
Inthe divine life how much is to be learned of the 
heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths, of the 
love of Christ as He reveals Himself in us, and the 
soul presses forward in the divine life. “Not as 
though I had already attained,” saidthe chief of the 
apostles ; “but, forgetting the things which are behind, 
I press toward the mark for the prize of my high call- 
ing.” As soonas a soul thinks it has attained all, it 
becomes stunted and dwarfed. In reading the lives of 
the holy Fletcher, Bramwell, and others, we are struck 
by their spirit of lowly humility, and their ever press- 


ing upward and onward. It was said of Fletcher, that 


in his heavenliness of spirit and the triumphs of faith 
he seemed to soar above every one, yet, in his lowly 
humility, to be at the feet of all. 

“After fifty-six years spent in the service of God,” 
wrote Carvosso, “I find I have nothing to keep my soul 
in motion but faith in the blood of Christ; without 
this I should at once be as a ship becalmed. Even 
when we are cleansed from all the pollution of sin, we 


204 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


shall be sensible of numberless failings and deficiencies, 
which will render it necessary for us to continually 
have recourse to the atoning blood; and our best serv- 
ices are so imperfect and unworthy that were they not 
offered in the name of Christ, and on the ground of 
His all-availing sacrifice, they would by no means be 
acceptable to God. But while we live in the constant 
exercise of faith and obedience, we shall have constant 
experience of the efficacy of the Redeemer’s blood, 
and shall, from moment to moment, enjoy a complete 
salvation from sin.” The deepest, lowliest humility 
marked the closing scene of his life. He often ex- 
claimed: 
“T the chief of sinners am, 
But Jesus died for me.” 


In Jesus, thine, 
SaraH A. COOKE. 





THE SHEEP AND LAMBS TO BE FED. 


“Feed my sheep, feed my lambs,” said our Lord. 
How well that lesson was learned! As we read the 
epistles of Peter we are struck by their wonderful depth 
and tenderness. Can this be the man so impulsive, so 
unreliable! Many, many years of discipline have 
brought out alf that tenderness, subdued his will, till 
every thought has been brought into captivity. With 
open face, beholding as in a glass, he has been-changed 
into the image of his Lord, and he utters to others the 
charge once given by his Lord, “‘ Feed the flock, taking 
the oversight” —the church which He has redeemed by 
His own precious blood, not lording it over God’s her- 
itage. How has my soul been pained this summer by 
seeing, all over the land my feet have trod, the lack of 
such pastors. The sisters would gather together and 
talk of God’s work. What grief! One sister told how, 
when the new preacher came, he said he was going to 
have everything straight, if it cut off the best members 
of the church; and so they cut, and slash and drive, 
like Jehu of old, leaving desolation behind. I once 


+ 





x 
; 
b' 






PASTORAL LOVE FOR THE FLOCK. 205 


heard a very prominent minister give his experience 
on this line. New in the experience of holiness, with 
vision wondrous clear, such as this experience never 
fails to give, he was appointed pastor of a large church. 
He saw its worldliness, and began to hew and strike on. 
every hand. One night an old disciple, one who had 
led Bishop Hamline through into his glarious experi- 
ence, talked to him. This was not the way God would 
-£ have him do. He would scatter the flock, and so on, 
____ Not the way of Him who led His flock like a shepherd 
3 by the hands of Moses and Aaron. “I went home,” 
q said the pastor, “and that night God gave mea vision. 
ss I saw a large flock of sheep. Some were bruised and 
. torn; some were weak and feeble; some hardly able to 
walk, and some just little lambs, and there was I beat- 
ing all around with a large club. O how ashamed I 
was! The Lord taught me a lesson that night that I 
have never forgotten.”” And then the brother told us 
how every morning he would go into his study and, 
with the church-book before him, he would plead for 
two hours for the members by name! and in about 
three months, in that church, he saw the most glorious 
revival he had ever seen. Se 
And then others are so idle, “lying down, loving to 
slumber;” not laborers in God’s vineyard, but idlers; 
gentlemen of leisure, whiling away time in any 
way. O who that looks on can believe that such 
preachers have any love for the deathless souls of those 
around them. I was in a meeting in Illinois, where 
more than twenty preachers were present. One evan- 
gelist did most of the preaching. Every day a prayer- 
‘meeting was given out for the following morning at six - 
o'clock. Three mornings the hour came, but not one 
of the twenty preachers was there. My soul was stirred 
within me. If alive to God, would they not have been 
there to take hold early for a blessing on the multi- 
tudes who would gather there through the day? Awake, 
beloved preacher of the gospel! 


Wesley, before the close of his glorious ministry, 


~~ -—s 
Un, : 


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206 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


saw the great danger here; ‘like priest, like people.” 
_>What the teachers were, soon the churches would be. 
He writes to his friend, Mr. Mather: ‘No, Alex.; no! . 
The danger to Methodism does not lie here. It springs 
from a different quarter. Our preachers, many of them, 
are fallen. They are not spiritual. They are not alive 
to God. They are soft, enervated, fearful of shame, 
toil and hardship; they have not the spirit which God 
gave to T. Lee at Partly bridge, or to you at Bolton. 
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but _ 
sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care nota: straw _ 
whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will 
shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of — 
“heaverr upon thé earth.” —Banner of Holiness, Nov. 25, — 
pSO5.. © 
WoopsIngE, Jo Daviess Co., IIl., June 18, 1888. 
Dear Bro. Kent: Brothers and Sisters of the 
“Banner”: ‘Where shall I His praise begin?” Once 
more I am amidst the beauties of nature, breathing the 
fresh country air, and tracing every day the works of our 
God, His handiwork in hill and valley, in.the moon as 
she walks in her brightness, and the sun in his glorious 
majesty making the circuit of the heavens ; still, as in 
the days of old when the prophets walked this earth, 
“all His works praise Him,” and His saints, taking up 
the chorus, “bless His holy name.” As we rode to- 
gether yesterday, the heat was very great, and the 
thirsty land seemed calling forthe rain. After a long 
pause, the dear brother whose thoughts had gone home 
to fields and crops, said: “I wish you would pray for 
rain!” I answered I would; ‘‘and let us pray right 
now ;” and, slacking the horse’s pace, we poured out 
our full hearts to God—the God of Elijah. We took 
dinner at a friend’s, where he left me, to go some four- 
teen miles farther to his home, to return in two or three 
days. Long before he could have reached his home 
the clouds gathered, the lightnings flashed, the thunder 
pealed, and then, in torrents, came the refreshing rain, 
making all nature to rejoice. “O that men would 


A REVIVAL NEAR GALENA, ILL. aan 


praise the Lord for his goodness, who still maketh the 
bright clouds and giveth the showers of rain!” 

In this section of the country there had been a 
spiritual dearth ; churches closed for want of preach- 
ers, none to break to the people the bread of life. Bro. 
Buss, who has been superannuated lately, health poor, 
heard the Macedonian cry: ‘Come over and help us.” 
When he came, like his great Master, his heart was 
“moved with compassion as he saw the people as sheep 
having no shepherd.” From him the invitation reached 
me in Chicago. Heart and hands seemed full of work; 
but as I laid the matter day by day before the Lord, 
often in the words of His servant Moses, “If Thy 
presence go not with mecarry me not hence,” the 
answer came: “ My presence shall go with thee;” and, 
nothing doubting, I started nearly two weeks ago. 

Last Sabbath was a day of special blessing; on the 
Saturday before, to my surprise, 1 found it had been 
announced in the Galena “Gazette” that I would preach 
three times on the Sabbath, the afternoon appointment 
being six or seven miles away, on the most rough and 
hilly road I ever traveled in the hill country of Jo 


_Daviess County. I dared not excuse myself, as the 


notice was out. O with what trembling I held on, not 
only for strength of body, but for grace to ‘‘ preach the 
unsearchable riches of Christ,’ and both were given. 
Never had I more liberty; never did God’s Word open 
more blessedly as the command came, “preach the 
Word;” the message all my Lord’s, I only a voice in 
the wilderness, crying “prepare ye the way of the 
Lord, make His paths straight.” Day by day we have 


visited from house to house. It seemed the Spirit had 


gone before us, there was such breaking down, tears 
and confessions, with earnest invitations to come again. 
Everywhere there seems to be the sound of an abund- 
ance of rain, while the ‘Lo, Iam with you alway” 
stimulates our faith in this blessed work. 

Every talent you have is needed to promote the 
glorious cause of our Redeemer, and in your hands, as 


ope: WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


you use it for His glory, it will greatly increase. Do 


you want a triumphant faith in God? Live for God, — 


prefer His holy cause and kingdom before everything 


on earth, spend and be spent for Him ; no sacrifice you ~ 


make but the hundred-fold will come to you here! 
Do we want an abundant entrance into the ever- 
lasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? 
_ Then let our lives be full of the love which “ seeketh 
not her own,” holy courage in His cause, brotherly love, 
‘godliness, charity,in word and in deed. This is. the 
way and this alone, having our fruit unto holiness, 
with a daily application for more of this heavenly 
grace at the feet of the lowly Lamb of God. 


CAMP-MEETING NOTES. 


If there is one place nearer heaven than any other, 
methinks it is a camp-meeting. There gather God’s 
own elect, many of them, it may be, through the year 
separated from much of Christian fellowship. Many 
coming, not exactly as the worshipers came to the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem, bringing the first-fruits, the bullocks, 
doves, and lambs to lay upon the altar, but making 
sacrifices to them more costly. One brother told me, 
with a face all lighted up with joy, of preparation he 
was making in the town he lived in to advance the king- 
dom of the Redeemer, when for the first time it flashed 


upon my mind what David meant in the 51st Psalm, 


that the righteous should lay dudlocks on His altar— 
make large sacrifices—and I said, ‘‘ You have laid a 


bullock on the altar.” Ah yes, and the hundred-fold _ 


of blessing had come, and kept coming on his soul 
through all that camp-meeting. 

Sometimes the Lord calls for costlier offerings 
than these. At a camp-meeting in Wisconsin, one 
summer, a young girl, just in the bloom of early woman- 
hood, came to the altar to seek the blessing of holiness. 


~ It was a long struggle, as theLord revealed to her His” 


will concerning her, but the victory came, and with it 
the joy unspeakable and full of glory. His own king- 





a 








A DAUGHTER GIVEN UP TO GOD. 209 


dom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost had been set up. Early the next morning, just 
before service, her father came into the tent, and said, 
with deep emotion, ‘‘I thought I had consecrated my 
all to God.” Our camp-meeting was on his farm and 
much of the labor had fallen on him—a whole-souled 
child of God. ‘ But,” he added, “I had not; I know 
now He wants my child for His service. O pray for 
me that I may make this sacrifice. I feel as Abraham 
felt when God commanded him to offer up Isaac.” It 
seemed as though the light and joy would be gone 
from that home. O what a struggle, as he knelt at the 


_ altar! How he wrestled with the angel of the cov- 


enant to give him the victory, and prevailed! Mother 
and father knelt there together, while the dear girl 
looked down on both, reminding us of that scene on 
Mt. Moriah, where Isaac with submission was bound to 
the altar. The victory was won; the next day, witha 
band of workers, she went forth into the great harvest- 
field, and we know that while the eyes of the parents’ 


_ faith are turned upward, God will pour more of joy 


into their souls—will be more to them than seven sons 
or daughters, and they will rejoice continually, 


“That aught so dear, so pure, was theirs, 
To bring before their God.” 


We seem coming back to apostolic times—to the 
Lord’s way of working-—sending forth workers fresh 
from Himself, with the joy of His salvation upon them. 

The woman from Samaria’s well moved the people 


as perhaps no collegian, fresh from the study of divin-. 


ity, could have done. And the demoniac worked so 
effectually that when Jesus came that way again, the 
people were waiting for him. O glory to our God! 
When the message has the thrill of Holy Ghost power 
and life, no matter through what lips, “the dead hear 
the voice and come forth and live.” 

Hands off, beloved, from every one who has this 


seal. Though they are not of our fold, in the name of 





210 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 





our God let us bid them God-speed, “lest haply we 
should be found to fight against God.” 


WAYSIDE NOTES.—I. . 


‘Palms of victory, crowns of glory, 
We shall wear.” 


The St. Charles camp-meeting is just closed. While 3 
waiting fog the train, and to refresh, it may be, the souls. S 
of others, I would jot down one of its hallowed incidents. s 

Miss Everhart was speaking of her work in the 
Olive Branch Mission, Chicago, and of her own insuf- ‘ 
ficiency to meet its great demands; of the thousand e, 
visits paid last year; of the calls on every hand, and of E 
the Whispered Voice, heard continually above all the - 
pressure: ‘“‘ HE Is ABLE!” 


“a 

Again and again were these words repeated) being J 

emphasized by His almighty presence and power, until : 

the whole tent seemed filled with His glory,andahun- — 

dred lips it seemed, were unsealed to shout forth His ‘ 
glory. 


“Tf heaven were no better than this,” said one of 
the redeemed, “I could stay here forever.” Yes, yes; e 
and this is but a beam from the eternal glory. 

“He is able.” Fill it up, beloved, with just your 
needs, and he shall supply them—all out of “ His riches 
in glory.” 

O the unfailing supply! The holy Wesley said: 
“A thousand cares sit as lightly on me as the hairs on 
my head.” The secret, entire devotion; the eye so 
single that the whole body is full of light. 

Why the weakness in all our land? Paul, in his 
day, spoke of the few who were all devoted, and used 
these sad words: ‘“AIl seek their own, not the things — 
which are Christ’s.” 

God’s vineyard is let out to those who bring not in 
the delicious fruits for Him, but who labor for them- 
selves; the vineyard trodden down; the great Lord of a 
the vineyard not laboring with them. - 

SaraH A. COOKE. 3 





he ae 


A REMARKABLE PROVIDENCE. 211 


WAYSIDE NOTES.—II. 
How many ways the Lord has of awakening the 


unconverted by His providences! One such instance 


comes before me now. 

One Saturday morning, on my way to a children’s 
sewing-school at the Rock Island depot, Chicago, the 
rain was pouring heavily. I noticed before mea lady 
in deep mourning, with no umbrella. Stepping up, I 
remarked, the morning so wet, would she not share my 
umbrella? Thanking me, we walked on together. The 
conversation soon passed on from the physical to the 
spiritual—to the joy of having the Sun of Righteous- 
ness shining in the soul. It was one of those precious 
seasons when the well of water was springing up into 
everlasting life in my soul. 

I gave the stranger, I suppose, but little oppor- 
tunity of talking; but as we parted with a warm grasp 
of the hand, she said, ‘‘ Come and see me; I live at 199 
South Desplaines street.” It may have been two weeks 
before I found my way to her home. She received me 
most kindly, and as we sat together she told me of her 
conversion. 

“Tt was a little before our great Chicago fire,” she 
said. ‘We were keeping a restaurant. I had only one 
child, my little Mary, some five years of age. She 
left her. play one day, and running up to me, said, 
‘Mamma, I shall only be with you one month longer.’ 
I started; it was as though a sword went through my 
heart. And as I remonstrated, and tried to check her, 
she again repeated it—‘I shall only be a month with 


you, mamma.’ 


“The days passed, and the impression strengthened 
that it was only a child’s fancy. Buta few days before 
the time, little Mary sickened and died.” And the 
mother described her anguish; her whole soul’s love 
had entwined around that little one. Broken-hearted, 
life became to her a burden. 

'“One night,” she said, “my little Mary came to 
me and said, ‘Mamma, read the 77th Psalm.’ I wasa 


212 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Roman Catholic, and had no Bible; but I borrowed one 
of my neighbor. In that psalm I found an experience 
exactly like my own. How I dwelt on it! every verse 
brought light.” And, like the Psalmist, she found the 
Rock—the everlasting Rock of Ages—and the new 
song came welling from her ies even of praises for 
evermore. 

He who led His people like a flock by the hand of 
Moses and Aaron, had led this poor sheep into the 
fold, where she could find pasture. Coming up through 
great tribulation are those who have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Chicago, Ill. SaraH A. COOKE. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


TEMPERANCE IN EATING. 


My Dear FRIEND: You seemed surprised, yester- 
day, at my remarks on eating, so I sit down to write 
my thoughts to you more fully. For many years the 
conviction has been growing upon me that with many 
people their “table has become a snare” unto them. 
Did you ever read and ponder the words of our Savior: 


“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your 


hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunken- 
ness, and the cares of this life.” I had two intimate 
friends in Chicago, Dr. and Mrs. Duncanson, who were 
both in the medical profession; they had concluded 
that in forty, out of every forty-five cases that came 
under their observation, the sickness had been brought 






- 
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’ 
7 
* 


PE ag oe he Ser 


- 


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ae a o. oae 


on by over-eating or eating things that were injurious._ 


Some years ago, a doctor in St. Louis penned the fol- 
lowing : “How happens it, amid the lasting cry against 
drunkenness, we never hear a word against its sister 
evil, gluttony? I think IJ can assert, that ina long prac- 
tice Ihave known three die from over-eating where 
one died from drunkenness. Whence come apoplexy, 





7 


ee te ie ee 


Oe 


> 


~~ 





SAINTS SHOULD BE ABSTEMIOUS. 213 


paralysis, dyspepsia, and a host of other diseases, but 
from too much and too rich food, taken often under the 
- mostimprudent circumstances? And yet we hear of no 
society formed to prevent this growing vice.” It 
startled me wonderfully ; but from close observation I 
* think it may be true, and it is a sin thatis growing on 
the people. Said a woman to me not long ago: ‘““We 
kill ourselves by all this needless cooking.” Yes, dear 
sister, and you greatly, spiritually and physically, injure 
those for whom you spread these sumptuous tables. 


How grieved I have often felt, at some of our camp- 


‘ listening to Him “‘ who spake as never man spake,” un- 
4 til His compassionate heart was touched (just as now) 
) for their bodily needs, the bread and fish were multi- 
plied, and five thousand men, beside the women and 
A children, sat down to that bounteous meal? He, the 
Creator, could as easily have commanded every del- 
icacy, but it was ‘ust the needed food—the bread and 

fish. 
_— All who have lived very close to God have found 
_ ~— the need of watchfulness at this point. Hear the great 
apostle of the Gentiles: ‘I keep under my body, and 
bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I 
have preached to-others, I should myself be a cast- 
away.” The early Methodists were models of abstem- 
———~jousness, as well as all other phases of self-denial. A 
friend told me, once, that when Dr. Adam Clarke was 
preaching in the neighborhood, he was invited to her 
father’s house to dine and meet some friends. Dr. 
| Clarke had his seat on her mother’s right hand, and in 
; a most kindly way he asked if they had any potatoes 
and buttermilk, the only thing he touched at that sump- 
- tuoustable. Atanother time he had taken the morn- 
ing service, and going to the house where he was to 
dine, he asked the lady if she had any bread and 
cheese. She said, ‘“‘Yes, Dr. Clarke, but dinner will soon 


: : : 

7 meetings, over the needless luxuries, the time and 
= : ° 5 : 

: money spent “for that which is not bread.” Did you 
‘ _ ever think, when the multitudes had followed Jesus, 


- 


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¥ 5 7 <. 
: 


214 ' WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


be ready ;” but the doctor’s request was granted, the 
frugal meal partaken of, and, most likely under some 
tree, or in some secret place, during the interval of wor- 
ship, his soul was holding communion and getting a 
fresh anointing from God. 


Billy Bray would say: ‘‘I never preach so well as 
from an empty stomach.” So all-important did Mr. 
Wesley consider fasting, that on one occasion he said : 
“T should as soon expect to see a man in heaven who 
never prayed, as one who never fasted.” It ever seems 
to say to the body, “stand back, while I getintoa 

—_closer communion with my God.” 


Watch and pray; on every line we will need it, if 
we would have fellowship with our Savior, and have 
the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. 
Yours in Jesus’ precious love, 

SaRAH A. COOKE. 


“But I keep under my body, and bring it into sub- 
jection, lest that by any means when I have preached 
to others I myself should be a castaway.” 

No young disciple, no babe in Christ, no ordinary 
Christian, penned these words, but the chief of the 
apostles, the man who had received the commission 
from Jesus, who had been caught up into the very 
heavens, and heard what it was impossible to utter. 
Surely, if any man might have thought himself beyond 
the reach of temptation, it might have been Paul. He 
seemed to echo the thought of the divine Lord: 
‘‘What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” ‘Watch 
and pray that ye enter not into temptation.” Reading 
one morning, at family worship, of the disciples on the 
Sabbath, with their Master, plucking the ears of corn 
and eating, “for they were an hungered,’ and of the 
captious, hard-hearted Pharisees finding fault, I 
thought how much more blessed for themselves if they 
had taken them to their own homes and supplied their 
needs. I thought of the wonderful contrast, in these 
days, of many of those who profess to be in the apos- 





~ 


“KEEPING THE BODY UNDER.” 215 


tolic succession, often living in homes of luxury, and 
gratifying every desire of the flesh. 

Self-indulgence is not practiced by those who live 
in very close fellowship with their Lord; they keep 
their bodies under ; they know how closely are linked 
“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride 
of life,” and how many have been overcome by them 
since the days of the awful fall of Israel’s bard, prophet 
and king. And all alongare these warnings given, say- 
ing to every child of God: “Let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall.” 

How often the church is amazed and grieved by 
the awful fall of some great leader into gross sin, while 
the world looks on and blasphemes. Paul’s warnings, 
and those of his Master, had been unheeded. No 

nowledge, no amount of intellectual culture, has any 
power to save; nothing but a constant watchfulness, a 
reba of the body under. Solomon was wise above all 
other men. Of him it was said there was none before, 
and should be none after in wisdom like unto him—the 
man who sought to find out acceptable words of deep- 
est, clearest teaching, marking out to every generation 
~ the path of prosperity, happiness and peace. Yet he 
fell first into sensualism, and then, forsaking the.God of 
his fathers, and uttering some of the saddest wailings 
that ever fell from human lips, left no evidence as to 
whether ever again forgiven and restored to the favor 
of God. How many mighty men have been cast down 
by this sin! Samson, whose birth had been foretold by 
an angel, raised to be the deliverer of Israel from the 
bitter, galling yoke of the Philistines, a man of daunt- 
less courage and on whom the Spirit of God descended 
at times with mighty power, was entangled, overthrown 
by this one sin, a blind captive grinding at the mill, and 
dying in the midst of his enemies. We are in an_ 
enemy’s country ; and what constant _watchfulness we _ 
need ever to exercise | 

‘ Imself, and that wicked one touch- 

eth him not.” Iwas struck with some remarks of a 


= - ‘ 
= > > ~~ <5 a Te L 
E 5 - 


216 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


young sister this morning. Shesaid: “I was very busy = a 
one Saturday morning, and as I worked on, I found my 


mind was all on my work and I had lost sight of God. 
O how frightened I was, and how quickly I got back to 
Him.” This is the secret of “his seed remaining in 
him, and he cannot sin ;” while the loving eye of faith” 
is on God we will have victory over every temptation 
from the world, the flesh and the devil. 


‘“What though a thousand hosts engage, 
A thousand worlds, my soul to shake ; 
I have a shield shall quell their rage, 
And drive the alien armies back ; 
Portrayed, it bears a bleeding Lamb— 
I dare believe in Jesus’ name.” : 


THE ANARCHISTS. 


Cuicaco, Nov. 19; 1887. 

Dear BROTHER SHAW: Itseemssuch a long time — 
since I have either heard or written to you. Isit 
well with thee ; is it well with thy wife; is it well with 
thy children?—a household all given up to God; “the 
sound of rejoicing heard in the tabernacles of the 
righteous?”’ How little real joy anywhere else on 
this green earth ! 

I came into Chicago the beginning of last week, 
and there seemed such a gloom over the city—‘tmen’s 
hearts failing them for fear,” as the rumblings. and up- 
heavings of the strong hatred of the masses to law and 
government seemed ready to burst forth at any time 
and deluge our city with blood. As the day neared for ~ 
the execution of the Anarchists, every precaution was 
taken by the authorities to prevent a riot, but we well — 
know all would have been in vain, if the Lord had not 
spread His sheltering wings over us and said to the 
proud waves, “Be still.” 

There were more than ten righteous ones holdingon ~ 
by mighty faith for the peace of the city. It was said 
15,000 men were from their work on that day, and yet 
all passed off quietly, the poor deluded Anarchists 









PREACHERS SHOULD LIVE NEAR GOD. 217 | 


dying as they had lived, in open hostility to God and 
man. How often, on a Sabbath afternoon, in the South 
Park, they would come over, when we would be hold- 
ing our meetings, to break them up; but they never 
succeeded. We would get down on our knees and hold 
on to God for victory, and it would come; 


“For the Lion of Judah would break every chain, 
And give us the vict’ry again and again.” 


Dear brother, preach the gospel everywhere ; 
preach aS YOU GO, PREACH THE GOSPEL, the one great 
antidote for the sin and misery of human life! Don’t 
let anything switch you off from this—No SIDE ISSUES, 
however good, are to be put in the place of “repent- 
ance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;” 
then to follow a full salvation, deliverance from all 
sin—washed white in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb. 
For the last two or three days these lines of Wesley’s 
have been thrilling my soul : 


; “They see the Lamb in His own light, 
Whom angels dimly see ; 
And gaze transported at the sight 
, Through all eternity.” 


- fit fon all ba ne 


TP age eay, F 


eee 


é 


7 


rae A. he hue fe 


Live near Him, so near the Lamb that nothing 
shall intercept His love, the love of Christ, which pass- 
eth knowledge. It was said of George Whitfield, so 

_ close was his communion with the Lord before he came 
out to preach to the people, that when he came 
amongst them it seemed as though a halo of glory en- 
circled him. One hour, often two, alone with God, 
was his rule before preaching ; and so these holy 
preachers who moved the world kept the divine unc- 
tion descending from them to the people, like the 
precious ointment from Aaron’s beard, that “ went 
down to the skirts of hisraiment.” This holy unction 
comes in no other way but through this deep, hallowed 
communion. Jesus said to His first disciples : ‘* With- 
out Me can nothing.” When the preacher's — 
words only come from the lips, the hearers are unfed, 


Nil 


Moet eee Bere se Ue 





_218 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


unmoved. You know something of this mighty Holy 
Ghost power, which rested on those first disciples, and 
wafted, as its first installment, three thousand souls into 
the kingdom of our Redeemer. ‘Never,” President 
Charles Finney, of Oberlin College, would say in his 
charge to the students, ‘‘never go into your pulpits 
without this baptism of the Holy Ghost upon you.” 
Then you will stir three worlds, bringing, it may be, much 
persecution, but the glory will follow, and souls be born 
from above. May you have many—your joy here, your 
crown of rejoicing over there. Yours in the precious 
love of our Immanuel, SarAH A. Cooke. 


CuicaGo, ILL, March 22, 1887. 

My Dear BROTHER JAMES: Have received your 
last letter, inclosing a draft for twenty pounds. It 
came just right, for I had overrun my income (so many 
calls for money in helping the Lord’s work along), 
that I was just considering what part of my stock I 
must sell out. This, as the Americans say, “just fills 
the bill.” The first fruits were given the next day to 
the Lord, in the person of a dear superannuated preacher 
—f5. Blessed, glorious privilege of helping on the 
Lord’s cause and His dear, poor saints! I received the 
magazine with the account of yours and Mrs. Bass’s 
work ; did not remember whether I had written to you 
since. Like you, I have so very many Cones ae 
that my letter-writing is never done. 

How my heart has been overflowing with joy, as I 
laid down my pen and the memory came back again of 
early days ; of that walk with Mattie, and her telling 
me of your conversion ; the words came as directly 
from the Lord (ever since associated with you): 
‘““Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” O how 
it has all come back ; and the wondrous love of Jesus 
preserving us all through life from falling ; giving the 
unspeakable privilege of laboring for souls ; of seeing 
that our labors have not been in vain in the Lord, and 
ever looking forward to an immortality of eternal glory 





STIRRING SCENES AT THE ALTAR. 219 


—all, all the purchase of our Redeemer’s sufferings and 
death! Well may we say in the language of Wesley: 


“Our hearts o’erflow, our words are lost, 
Nor will we know, nor will we speak, of aught beside — 
Our Lord, our love, is crucified.” 


I so wonderfully see the Lord’s goodness in pre- 
venting my coming back to England. So much better 
for dear mother to be in the midst of Brother Thomas’ 
family, inthe oldhome. Ihave not seen Henry since 
his return, but have heard from him. He found dear 
mother much better than he expected. 

-Have been engaged in a glorious work the last six 
weeks, holding services with a dear sister, Miss Mary 
Knecht, a German, in two Congregational churches in 
Michigan. She is wonderfully used of God. When 
the Spirit of the Lord is upon her, in preaching or ex- 
hortation, I have scarcely ever heard any one so im- 
pressive. Loving to take the deepest, most alarming 
hymns in our language, she often sings them all alone, 
her voice rich and deep; then follows the sermon or 
exhortation, almost always the staple of it be- 
ing death, hell and the judgment. O how she, or 
the Spirit through her, grapples with the sinner’s 
conscience. One night, last week, sixteen or eighteen 
hurried forward to the altar ; what ascene of weeping 
and crying for mercy ; and night after night the same 
scene ; crowds follow wherever she goes. We see a 
glorious summer’s work before us, should her strength 
hold out ; but she is often completely prostrated, and 
unable for a day or two to do anything. Truly the 
heavenly treasure is in a weak tabernacle of clay. 

Brother and Sister Jones and Brother and Sister 
Gittings live together, and I with them, when at home. 
Will remember your message to Mr. Moody, should 
I haveachance of talking with him. He has been lab- 
oring in Chicago the last two months, I hear with 
much success. Sam Jones was there some eight weeks, 
but I don’t think there was much work done; a tre- 


220 3 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


mendous excitement, but too much laughterand hilarity 
for any deep work of the Spirit, we think. 


When you write again will you tell me something 
of our old friends, William Cole, Mrs. Tebbutt andher — 


two sons—are they Christians? John Crosher and his 
wife—are they still at Melton, and actively engaged in 
the Lord’s work? Hope you will have a blessed sum- 
mer’s work ; may the J.ord baptize you with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire. Life and labors end together. O 
I hope so ; would not like the idea of living to be weak — 
and imbecile, or even useless in the vineyard. May 
we not claim the promise : ‘In old age they shall be 
fat and flourishing ; yea, they shall bear fruit in old 
age.” Amen, amen, my Lord: faith claims the prom- 
ise! Would like to know your dear wife and mother ; 
expect with the latter, especially, I should have sweet 
communion. I ama thorough Methodist in the feel- 
ing part, and when the Lord hides His face, like the 


Psalmist, ‘““I am troubled.” Much love as ever. 
Yours in the precious love of our Redeemer, our all and 
in all, SaraH A. COOKE. 





In one of our meetings, Miss Knecht told of her 
conversion. Brought up in a home where God was 
feared and loved, her proud heart rejected him. The 
meek and lowly service of the Redeemer had less 
charms for her than the vain trifles of earth. The 
light within had become darkness. Going with her 
mother toa meeting, she had said on the way: “ I 
don’t believe there is a Christ ; I don’t believe God sent 
Him to die on this earth; I don’t believe there isa — 
hell.” She would fain have absented herself from the 
meeting, staying at home with friends, but her plans 
failed ; and ina devoted band of Christians her mother 
broke forth in prayer, and soon the Lord drew near, 
and, like Saulof Tarsus, she was prostrate. on the 
earth. There appeared before her a face full of gentle- 
ness and love. She knew the face—the face of Christ 
the Lord. 





aes 


" 
me 





LETTER TO MY BROTHER JAMES. . 221 


Then another scene came before her. This was 
the lake of fire—the hell whose existence she had so 
arrogantly denied ; while a voice asked : “ Do you now 
believe in a hell—the powers of the world to come?” 
She had tasted of them. Prostrate, in deep agony, 
awful moans burst from hex lips, and Jesus, as the only 
Deliverer from the place of torment, soon spoke for- 
giveness, and she went out, full of His power to save 
and to preach the everlasting gospel. 





Curcaco, Ill., October 8, 1889. 
My BeELovep BroTHER: Your letter was long in 


_reaching me, as I was out in the country, engaged in 


the Lord’s blessed service. In some respects our lives 


“are so much alike—both continually engaged in the 


Lord’s work. How we love it, rejoicing that He 
counts us worthy to labor in his vineyard! As you 
say, we are both verging upon old age. I can hardly 
realize it; life has gone so swiftly, and I feel none of 
the infirmities of old age, save that memory is slower, 
and I forget names and faces more quickly. I believe 
we shall both live toa good old age, and “come to 
our graves like a shock of corn fully ripe,” and our 
labors with our lives lay down. 

Your affliction, asthma, I know from dear father, 
is very painful at times, but it does not seem ordinarily 
to shorten life. Mrs. Bennet has suffered from a girl 
with it, and finds much relief, during severe attacks, 
from the burning of oes saturated with spirits of 
nitre, in her room. 

I can just enter into your feelings in regard to the 
work of the Lord; how much of it, like the clay, is 
marred in the hands of the potter. The brother I am 
laboring with now is very talented, but what a lack of 
tenderness.and love—a driving, cutting spirit, and I 
fear the work will not move on without some change ; 
the tenderness and love seem the longest in fully 
developing the Christian character. If I could live 
my life over again, how I would pray and labor for 


222 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


these graces, of which there has been great lack. As 
I write, these words come : 


‘And O from sin, from grief, from shame, ; 
I stoop to hide me in Thy name.” 


O bless the Lord! In Him, His work, His righte- 
ousness, is all our confidence; there is no other way 
into the holiest but through the blood of Jesus. 

Do you ever hear from William? And when he 
writes does he ever refer to spiritual things? Some- 
times he comes very vividly before me, andI have 
some degree of faith in bringing him to the Lord. I 
should have written, and occasionally sent papers and 
books, but I have lost his address ; send it to me when 
you write. Our dear mother’s case is a mystery to us 
all ; we cannot reason it out, we must believe and trust 
her inGod’shands. Iamso thankful always that she is 
in Brother Thomas’ family. I could not bear the thought 
of her being with strangers. A kind and noble mother 
she has been to us ; how much, under God, we owe to 
her in the development of all that is good and upright 
in our characters! I scarcely ever, in all the houses in 
which I stay, see such a wise mother--so just, so true. 


A little while, and she will emerge from this darkness, 


and it willseem but asatroubled dream when one 


awaketh. ‘‘ Having loved His own which were in the 
world, He loved them unto the end.” Your affection- 
ate sister, SarAH A. COOKE. 





Cuicaco, IIll., February 25, 1890. 

My Dear BroTtuHeER JAmeEs: Your kind letter duly 
reached me. Am always so glad to hear from you, so 
deeply interested about our dear mother. Years ago I 
should have been back to take care of her till life’s 
close, if the Lord had not so plainly, again and again, 
shown me it was not His will. Brother Henry often 
says, “Our mother was a wonderful woman.” Ada 
wrote to me some time ago about the probability of 


their going back again to Tasmania, but has not men- — 





AMONG ILLINOIS COAL-MINERS. 223 


tioned it lately, so I suppose it has been given up. I 
am glad your health is a little improved, and I expect 
we will live out our three-score-and-ten years. The 
Lerd most wonderfully gives me health and strength. 
For more than seven months I have not been home— 
all the time out in the Lord’s work; if the people did 
not so continually refer to me as old and aged, I should 
hardly realize it from my own feelings. 


Have been lately engaged in the most glorious 
work I have seen since we were in Indiana, about the 
time you were in America. O it has beenglorious. Ina 
large coal-mining village, St. David, Illinois, the people 
were very ungodly. A young sister, Miss Embury, 
descendant of Philip Embury, the first Methodist 
preacher who preached the gospel in America, came 
and started the meeting. At first there was but little 
interest, but the Lord began to work wonderfully, and 
the hardest sinners would be melted and break down. 
I joined her when the revival was moving blessedly, 
and on it went till more than a hundred had professed 
salvation. It seemed as though the very air was laden 
with salvation. Conviction was everywhere—in the 
homes of the people and in the mines; salvation the 
one theme. 

One day, when visiting from house to house, I 
went into the office of a Justice of the Peace; several 
persons had gathered, and soon the conversation was 
on the all-important subject, the salvation of the soul. 
I proposed that we have a class-meeting, and, just in 
the midst of it, the door opened and a stranger entered; 


when he saw me, he turned around quickly and was 


going out again. I arose and welcomed him, telling 
him we would be glad to have him stay. He tooka 
seat, and when it came to his turn, I asked if he was a 
Christian. He said: “No, I am not.” I urged upon 
him the importance of immediate decision, and we 
closed with prayer; and as we all rose from our knees 
he was still kneeling, his whole body moving with the 
intensity of his feelings. Soon we united our faith and 


224 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


brought him to the Lord; then victory came, and this 
soul had passed from darkness into light, from the 
kingdom of Satan into that of God’s own dear Son. 


He had come in two miles from the country; couldnot 


rest that day at home, and, he said, as he saw the 
woman-preacher when he came into the office, the devil 
got hold of his coat-tail and tried to pull him out again. 


He went home and brought his wife to the next meet-_ 


ing, and when the invitation was given for seekers he 
brought her to the altar, and she was blessedly saved. 
It was just at the time when la grippe, like an epi- 
demic, was passing through the land. 


One night, after the evening service, a message 


reached us that.a man in the country was very sick, _ 


and wanted to see us. It was near midnight when we 
reached the home. A woman was at the gate watching 
for us, and, as we alighted from the buggy, told us it 
was too late; he had all day been watching for us, and 
now he was dying. We passed in with sad hearts, just 


to watch the closing scene. He was too far gone to - 


notice any one, and in about half an hour the struggle 
was over; the silver cord was loosed, and the spirit had 
returned to the God who gave it. The urgent message 
had been sent to us by the doctor the day before, but, 
being pressed night and day, he had forgotten it; and 
they told us that all day he had watched the door for 
us to come; then came the consciousness that Jesus 
could save him without the help of “the woman- 
preacher,” as they all call us. He had been, before 
his sickness, to the meetings, and had got under deep 
conviction; in about an hour deliverance came; and 
now we knew why the message had not reached us— 
to get his eyes off from us and upon the Lord. 

Miss Embury left on Friday to go to a most needy 
field in Kentucky, while I have moved three miles west 
to help hold a meeting in a Protestant Methodist 
church. O such a “valley of dry bones!” We can 
hardly find a real live Christian in the neighborhood. 
The words will come to me, “Can these dry bones 



















(See Pages 120, 168. 169. 170, 2%5 


286.) 




















(See Pages 323, 331 to 334.) 


WORK AT HANNIBAL, MO. 225 


- live?” The life-giving power can come from God 
alone. I feel, as I have never felt, that without Him I 
can do nothing. What a privilege ‘it is to work in His 
cause. I hope we shall both be engaged in active 
service till the summons comes, “ Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord.” 

Tell your dear wife I will send her my picture 
when I reach home. Have yours been taken together? 
If so, I would much like them. You have sent me one 
of Mrs. J., taken, I think, before your marriage, and of 
yourself soon after you were here. 

All the band you knew are out in the creat harvest- 
field; two of the eldest, Brother Dickinson and Brother 
Bird, have passed away—Brother Bird last spring. I 
could have shouted for joy as I looked at him and 
realized his presence with the Lord; “he looked like 
a warrior taking his rest;’”’ he had fought the good fight 
of faith. Brother Andrews is settled at Hobart; Brother 
Hanmer in Wisconsin, much blessed of God; Brother 
Kelsey worked for some years as an-evangelist; then 
his voice and throat became so much affected that he 
had to give that work up, and is now settled as pastor 
Much love. In Jesus, as ever, thine, 

SARAH A. COOKE. 
IN MISSOURI. 
On THE Lorp’s Work IN } 
HanniBaL, Mo., Dec. 1, 1890. 

Dear Bro. Kent: After you left us on Wednes- 
day we felt a great want inour meetings, something 
like an army without a general (as Sister Tucker 
expressed it), and also for two nights a lack of 
the Spirit’s power; Thursday night not one was at 
the altar. What could we do but humble ourselves 
under the mighty hand of God? We appointed Fri- 
day asa day of fasting and prayer ; and O how dif- 
ferent the meeting was that night—the deepest and 
most solemn meeting we have had. From the very 
commencement, conviction deeper and more general 
came over all the congregation, with five orsix seekers 


226 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


at the altar, others weeping and broken down greatly, 
though not prepared to forsake all and follow Jesus. 
You would have rejoiced to have heard some of the 
testimonies, especially of the poor drunkard who had 
been such a bond-slave to Satan, now clothed and in 
his right mind. He sat at the Savior’s feet, his wife, by 
his side, testifying of her new-found joy and deliver- 
ance from the besetting sin of temper. 


‘“New songs do now their lips employ, 
And dances each glad heart for joy.” 


The old man who was so blessedly saved gota 
touch of the Spirit’s. power, and his wife shouted for 
very joy. 


It was all the Lord, our coming to Hannibal. Such © 


a difference in the congregation! The leaven is work- 
ing, the rough, noisy indifference giving way, and quiet 
thoughtfulness is on many a face. 

‘“OQur God is drawing near.” 

Yesterday, out for a walk in the afternoon, passed 
a house where there was a large party of children ; the 
windows were open, and the peals of merry laughter 
fell on my ears. I passed them, turned back, and 
entered, telling them I loved the children. Soon there 
was quiet, and I felt that Jesus was in the midst. We 
sang, we prayed, we talked of Him. I had been think- 
ing for days of beginning a children’s meeting. This 
has opened the way. They seemed pleased with the 
thought, and promised tocome. O fora harvest of 
souls amongst these little ones, “ for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven.” Sister Lower says I am to tell 
you she has great faith for the meeting. Three of her 
children are under conviction. They see the narrow 
way, the prize at the end, but hesitate as they look at 
the strait gate and the world to be given up, which 
has such a strong hold even on these young hearts. We 
have missed your presence, especially toward the close 
of the services, when the melting, tendér unction so 
often descends upon you, moving the hearts of the 







ae 


HOME OF A SAVED DRUNKARD. 227 


people. O nothing like it! Without it we are like the 
mountains of Gilboa, on which neither rain nor dew 
fell for seven years. O this holy unction, only 
received by waiting long under the melting beams of 
the Sun of Righteousness. How often we must tarry 
there till the fire on our hearts be rekindled, or the 
spark fanned into a flame of holy love to God and man. 


Iam writing before sunrise. How peaceful and 
calm everything is! All nature speaks of her Creator. 
“He maketh the outgoing of the morning and evening 
to rejoice.” 


“Our weariness of life is gone, 
Who live to serve our God aione, 
And only Jesus know!” 


Yesterday, Sabbath, wasa blessed day. Bro. Hall, 
of Fairfield, was with us, and preached at night in the 
demonstration of the Spirit. The afternoon meeting 
was in the scriptural order. Not an unbeliever but 
must have felt God was with us ofa truth. About in 
the midst of it, some eight or nine of us moved down 
into the park and preached, to a goodly congregation, 
“the unsearchable riches of Christ.” O glory to our 
God for the blessed privilege and promise that ‘our 
labor is not in vainin the Lord!” Several seekers were 
forward at the night-service ; and so the work is mov- 


ing. Bro. Keith is blessed in the work; also Bro. and 


Sister Tucker. I must not forget to tell you that away 
among the hills we found the home of the man who 
came forward one night, when you were with us, much 
under the influence of drink, and his wife shouted for 
joy as he knelt at the altar. Ah, we did not wonder, as 
we talked with them around their own fireside. He 
told us of a life, years gone by, when he walked with 
God, and theirs wasa happy Christian home. The 
Shepherd had again brought back this lost sheep to 


_ His fold. We mingled our prayers and songs of joyful’ 


thanksgiving together. Their eldest boy had been 
converted in this meeting. Glory, glory to our God! 





228 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


To Him be all the praise and glory for ever and 
ever! Amenand amen! | In Jesus, as ever, 
£ S. A. CooKE. 
DEATH OF MY MOTHER. 
CampriA, Wis., April 13, 1891. 
My Dear BrotrHeER JAMES: Your letter contain- ~ 
ing the news of dear mother’s death, with one from 
Ada and from Miss Revis, is received. ‘ The weary 
wheels of life at last have ceased to move,” and our be- 
loved mother is at rest. O how we bless God for 
the evidence given. that He owned her for His 
child ; that through the darkness that settled on her 
soul the light did break. We shall see her again, in 


His presence, ‘where there is fullness of joy for ever- 2 
more.”” Ada wrote me that near the close of life she 7 
would often repeat her favorite hymn : Au 
‘“God moves in a mysterious way, § 

His wonders to perform ; 4 

He plants his footsteps on the sea, 

And rides upon the storm.” : 

And she heard her frequently exclaim, ‘Praise the a 
Lord !” 7 


How often our dear father’s prayer for us comes 
back to me, ‘that our children may be a seed to 
serve God, a generation to call Him blessed.” O may 
it beso from generation to generation. I can hardly . 
write for the tears that come. O how good the Lord . 
has been to us as a family! 


Yesterday, Sabbath, was a blessed day of labor. : 
After the morning service I rode five miles, to another = 
village, to hold meeting, and back at night ; congrega- ie 


tion very large and the altar full of seekers. This isa 
Welsh settlement, and the most outwardly religious a 
place Ihave seen in America. To-day we move toan- — 
other village, five miles off. I am laboring with two 
brethren, both of whom have worked with the Salvation 
Army. Oneis a good singer, and the other a large- 
hearted exhorter. Iam so glad you are able to work ; 


HOLINESS LOST AND FOUND. . 229 


my voice is not so strong, and I cannot make so large a 
congregation hearas I used to. O how I loved to lift 
itup like atrumpet. Am sorry your dear wife is so 
delicate ; I would love tosee you both. God bless and 
cover you ever with His sheltering wing! Thine most 
affectionately, SARAH A. CooKE. 


MR. FLETCHER’S EXPERIENCE. 


“Holding forth the profession of your faith without 
wavering; and, again, says the apostle, ‘to the ac- 
knowledging of every good thing that is in you by 
Jesus Christ,” the Lord holds us to confess to His own 
glory received. Inthe life of Hester Ann Rogers, she 
gives a most instructive and interesting account of 
_ John Fletcher, and.of the way in which he received 
and lost the blessing of holiness. It is worthy ‘“‘to be 
had in everlasting remembrance.” With it we begina 
new chapter. 


CHAP THR. VLE. 


“ THaTt dear man of God, Mr. Fletcher, came with 
Miss Bosanquet (now Mrs. Fletcher), to dine at Mr. 
Smith’s in Park Row, and also to meet the select 
society. 

“After dinner, I took an opportunity to beg he 
would explain an expression he once used to Miss 
Losedale, in a letter, viz: ‘That on all who are renewed 
_in love, God bestows the gift of prophecy.’ He called 
for the Bible; then read and sweetly explained the sec- 
ond chapter of the Acts, observing that to prophesy, 
in the sense he meant, was to magnify God with the 
new heart of love and the new tongue of praise, as they 
did who, on the day of Pentecost, were filled with the 
Holy Ghost. And he insisted that believers are now 
called to make the same confession, seeing we may all 
prove the same baptismal fire. He showed that the 


230° WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


day of Pentecost was only the opening of the dispen- 
sation of the Holy Ghost—the great promise of the 
Father; and that ‘the latter-day glory,’ which he be- 
lieved was near at hand, should far exceed the first 
effusion of the Spirit. Therefore, seeing they then bore 


witness to the grace of our Lord, so should we, and, - 


like them, spread the flame of love. 

“Then, after singing a hymn; he cried, ‘O to be 
filled-with the Holy Ghost! I want to be filled! O my 
friends, let us wrestle for a more abundant outpouring 
of the Spirit! To me he said: ‘Come, my sister, will 
you covenant with me this day to pray for the fullness 
of the Spirit? Will you be a witness for Jesus?’ I 
answered, with flowing tears, ‘In the strength of Jesus, 
I will.” He cried, ‘Glory, glory, glory be to God! 


Lord, strengthen Thy handmaid to keep this covenant — 


even unto death.’ < 

‘“He then said: ‘My dear brethren and sisters, 
God is here; I feel Him in this place. But I would 
hide my face in the dust, because I have been ashamed 
to declare what He hath done for me. For years I 
have grieved His Spirit; but I am deeply humbled, and 
He has again restored my soul. Last Wednesday he 
spoke to me by these words, Reckon yourselves, there- 


fore, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God; | 


through Jesus Christ our Lord. I obeyed the voice of 
God; I now obey it; and tell you all, to the praise of 
His love, 1am free from sin! Yes, I rejoice to declare 
it, and to bear witness to the glory of His grace, that 
I am dead unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus 
Christ, who is my Lord and my King. I received 
this blessing four or five times before; but I lost 
it by not observing the order of God, who hath 
told us, With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 


ness, and with the mouth confession is made unto sal- 


vation. But the enemy offered his bait under various 
colors, to keep me from a public declaration of what 
my Lord had wrought. 

‘““* When I first received His grace, Satan bade me 


4 
a 

a 
4 
si 
ay 
- 

% 
By 
, 
= 

: 











“DEAD UNTO SIN AND ALIVE UNTO GOD.” 231 


wait awhile, till I saw more of the fruits. I resolved to 
do so, but I soon began to doubt of this witness which 
before I had felt in my heart, and was, in a little time, 
sensible I had lost both. A second time, after receiv- 
ing this salvation (with shame I confess it), I was kept 
from being a witness for my Lord by the suggestion, 
Thou art a public character; the eyes of all are upon 
thee; and if as before, by any means thou losest the 
blessing, it will be a dishonor to the doctrine of heart- 
holiness, etc. I held my peace and again forfeited the 
gift of God. Atanother time I was prevailed upon to 
hide it by reasoning, How few, even of the children of 
God, will receive this testimony, many of them suppos- 
ing every transgression of the Adamic law is sin; and, 
therefore, if I profess myself to be free from sin, all 
these will give my profession the lie, because I am not 
free in their sense—I am not free from ignorance, mis- 
takes and various infirmities. I will therefore enjoy 
what God has wrought in me, but I will not say Iam 
perfect inlove. Alas! I soon found again, He that 
hideth his Lord’s talent and improveth it not, from that 
unprofitable servant shall be taken away even that he 
hath. 


“Now, my brethren, yousee my folly: I have con- 
fessed it in your presence, and now] resolve, before 
you all, to confess my Master. Iwill confess Him to 
all the world! And I declare unto you, in the presence 
~ of God, the Holy Trinity, I am now dead indeed unto 
sin. I donot say, I am crucified with Christ, because 
some of our well-meaning brethren say, By this can 
‘ only be meant a gradual dying. But I profess unto 
you, I am dead unto sin and alive unto God. And re- 
member, all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is 
my prophet, priest, and King! my indwelling holiness! 
my all inall! I wait for the fulfillment of that prayer, 
That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, 
and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, and 
that they may be one even as we are one. O for that 
pure baptismal flame! O for the fullness of the dis- 


232 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


pensation of the Holy Ghost! Pray, pray, pray for 
this! This shall make us all of one heart and one soul. 
Pray for gifts—for the gift of utterance, and confess 
your royal Master. A saint without gifts is like a king 
in disguise, he appears as a subject only. You are 
kings and priests unto God. Put on, therefore, your 
robes, and wear, on your brow, Holiness to the Lord.’” 





RICHLAND CENTRE, Wis., Sept. 18, 1891. 

My Dear BrotHerR JAMEs: Your kind letter re- 
ceived. I had no idea you would be able in so short a 
time to get everything settled up. I do thank the Lord 
that everything has turned out so satisfactorily. I 
received a letter from Brother John Graves [sister 
Fanny’s husband ], expressing his gratitude that we had 
all recognized his family’s rights. O my dear brother, 


what is so sweet as the peace of an approving con-~ 


science? I always think that “the worm that dieth 
not” may be the misery of a guilty conscience. Peace 
with God, peace flowing like a river, a heaven on earth! 
To our God be all the glory that He has kept us so 
many years from falling—yea, and will at last “ present 
us faultless before the throne with exceeding joy.’ 
Last night, at a meeting, I told of your conversion, 
with its * life- long glorious results. I find that these in- 
cidents in our own lives often touch and interest peo- 
ple; heart touches heart. 

Have this week been attending cottage prayer- 
meetings, about like those which Mattie and I held so 
many years ago when we first went out into the great 
harvest-field. 


One of my most precious ene has lately passed _ 


away the Rev. Joseph Travis; such a grand preacher. 
It seemed to me that I never heard Jesus glorified from 
any lips as from his, and now 


‘“ He sees Him face to face, 
And dwells before the Lamb.” 


He had borrowed a hundred dollars from me 


| ae ee re. » ~ 









“Sy ws me ' / . 
Paes Ge we ote 


MEMORIES OF MY DEVOTED MOTHER. 233 


They built them a house, expecting to have enough 
means, and were this much short; and I believe the 
Lord impressed me to lift this burden of debt from his 
widow; so yesterday I wrote, freeing her from the prin- 
cipal and interest. I thought this would be giving the 
Lord the first-fruits of all my increase. 


Brother John wrote very hopefully about the chil- — 
dren, spiritually, giving much the same account as 
yours about Arthur. Dear boy, we must hold him up 
before the Lord; His grace alone is sufficient for these 
great sufferings and the wreck of all earthly hopes. 
He speaks hopefully of Edith. In pleading with the 
Lord for them, their mother’s ceaseless prayers seem 
always the strongest plea I can bring, next to the atone- 
ment, for their salvation. None but God knows how 
ceaselessly she pleaded for their salvation. I shall 
never forget an expression she once used in writing to 
me: ‘Once she had travailed in birth for them, when 
they came into the world, but she had been travailing 
ever since for the salvation of their souls.”” Would not 
Ambrose have said to her, as to the mother of St. 
Augustine: ‘Go thy way, woman; the children of so 
many prayers can never be lost.” 

I should think that your suggestion for Ada and 
Florence would be just the thing. Florence must be 
well-qualified, and Ada could help in the school-room, 
and the dear deaf girl in the house-keeping. Mixing 
so much among the people, I see more and more. what 
a blessing steady employment is. I suppose, yea, I 
know, when the time comes that our work is done, the 
Lord will give us grace to retire; but I hope it will not 
- be long after that the summons will come, ‘‘ Enter thou 
into the joy of the Lord.” And we'll 


‘Spread our glad wings and mount away, 
To mingle with the blaze of day.” 


I have been most of the summer out in Wisconsin, 
in camp-meetings—a blessed field for work; have been 
much interested and helped in holding children’s meet- 


234 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. oat 


ings. I expect next week to return home, and then 
probably go for my yearly visit to Brother Henry’s— 
such a rest! They are so very kind and thoughtful 


for me. 
Once again, let me thank you for all your disinter- 


ested labor of love for us all. Love to your dear wife. - 


I hope you may be spared to each other for many 


years. Your affectionate sister, 
: SARAH A. COOKE. 


VERMONT CaAmp-MEETING, Aug. 15, 1889. 
This camp-ground, about two miles from Vermont, 
Ill., purchased by our people, is ‘‘ beautiful for situa- 


tion.” I have been to several of our State holiness 


and other camp-meetings, but these Free Methodist 
meetings go deeper, rise higher than others. The 


jubilant hallelujahs have an earnest ring; the burden for 


souls is greater; the conversions seem clearer, and the 
convictions stronger. From the very commencement 
this was a very hallowed meeting. O we must not only 
have the holiness, but ‘‘have fruit unto holiness.” 
Brother Dake joined us, and spoke of consecration. 
He said that for fourteen years he had not hearda 
whisper of God’s Spirit but he had obeyed it; and 
when on a circuit, God kept it all in a flame of revival. 
O how he stirred both saints and sinners. He told 
how easy to lose the first love and settle down; of its 
awful danger; of-the holiness with no power, no devo- 
tion, no self-sacrifice about it. Ease, self-indulgence, 
he said, had stranded thousands. Where have they 
drifted? Into the ranks of Spiritualism, Christian Sci- 
ence, Adventism and Universalism. When King Saul 
had lost his communion with God, the living God, then, 
in the utter desolation of his heart, he sought for other 
spirits. Brother Dake said that when God gave him a 
sight of the carnality of his heart, the depths of de- 
pravity, for three days and nights there was agony un- 


speakable; but death to carnality and deliverance came. - 


He knew what Isaialr experienced when, in the temple, 


» 








POSITION OF THE FREE METHODIST CHURCH. 235 


which was filled with the glory of God and His pres- 
ence, he said: ‘‘ Woe is me, for I am a man of un- 
clean lips.” 


On the Sabbath-day, what a multitude, restless as 
the very waves of the sea! God’s children felt it was 
the great battle-day, and were bold for God and His 
holy cause. Nearly all the day was filled with services. 
They could not get out of hearing. Children’s meet- 
ing, ring meetings, ringing testimonies everywhere, fell 
on their ears, and before the day closed many looked 
sobered and convicted. 


Sister Brewington, of Springfield, one of Africa’s 
sable daughters, preached on Saturday night, on the 
“open door, which no man can shut;” and seekers 
pressed to the altar. Scarcely a meeting but seekers 
went forward for God’s pardoning mercy and sancti- 
fying grace. This (Monday) morning, as I write, the 
sobs of the seekers at the altar mingle with the shouts 
of the redeemed. One old gentleman of seventy-three, 
in the love-feast, with the enthusiasm of youth, told 
how his substance had been given for the advancement 
of Free Methodism, and his persuasion that this church 
shall win her widening way all through these broad lands 
of America; and so she will, if true to her Lord. She 
stands just to-day as one of the stars in His right hand, 
to shine there for ever and ever, if true to Him and 
her God-given trust; but seeking name, position, power, 
Free Methodism alone—anything but Himself and His 


_glory—to be dropped from that hand, and the candle- 


stick removed out of its place. Yes, beloved, to us, as 


_to every church, He says: “I am He that liveth and © 


was dead, and am alive for evermore.” Without the 
fresh supplies of light and life from heaven, Free Meth- 
odism will become as dry and dead as any other ism 
on earth. 

MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


“T hold Thee with a trembling hand, 
Yet will not let Thee go 


236 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Till I shall thy salvation see, 
And all thy glory know.” 


There, there they are, God’s own blessed promises, 
all “* Yea and amen, in Christ Jesus.” Hannah’s God is 
the mother’s God of to-day. Fourteen hundred years 


ago, the mother of St, Augustine, with a heart almost 


broken by the profligacy of her son, her only son, went 
to her pastor and poured out her cares and sorrow to 
him. A man of God was Ambrose, and when the sor- 
rowful tale was all told, he said: ‘‘ Go thy way, woman; 
the child of so many prayers can never be lost.” He 
whose ways are not our ways,nor His thoughts our 
thoughts, had purposes of mercy toward that wayward 
one. His friend and companion, Alipus, was converted; 
the skepticism of his heart yielded, and deep convic- 
tion settled down on him, and still he wavered; the 
enticing pleasures of sin hada mighty hold on him ; 
the mighty struggle depicted by Paul in the seventh of 
Romans, the law in his members warring against the 
law of his mind. Miserable and unhappy, as the con- 
flict raged within, he walked one day from his room 
into the garden. Some children were playing, and 
again and again they repeated: ‘‘Take and read, take 
and read,” and his attention was arrested. What did 
it mean? He had never heard them in their play 
repeat those words before. Going back into his room, 
he took up the Epistle to the Romans, and the first 
words that met his gaze were chapter 13: 13,14. They 
were to him spirit and life ; every chain was broken, 
and he “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” He became 
a mighty leader in God’s hosts. Hallelujah! ‘“ Christ 
is the same yesterday, to-day and forever.” 

In our mission in Chicago, two or three nights 
ago, a man stepped up to me and, placing a letter in 
my hand, said: ‘‘I want you to read that; it is from 
my mother.” It was a wonderful letter, in answer to 
one he had written her telling of his conversion. She 
told of her joy at his birth, her daily ceaseless prayers 
for his conversion. Every day he had been brought 











WHAT CONSTITUTES GOSPEL PREACHING. 237. 


to God, as inthe days of his childhood ; then she 
wrote of her sad trial during all these years of his wan- 
dering, and of her great joy when the long-looked-for 
letter came; of her longings that he might be a 
preacher of the gospel ; and gave sweet, blessed coun- 
sel to go right on running the race set beforehim. And 
so into our mission they come, these wanderers. The 
great financial distress drives many of them here for 
help, and many a prodigal is met, comes to himself, 
and finds his way to his Father’s house. There is joy 
in the presence of the angels now, as eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, over one sinner repenting. Surely, in 
these gatherings, we may say; > 
“Angels now are hovering round us, 
Unperceived amid the throng : 
Wondering at the love that crowned us, 
Glad to join the_holy song. 
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 
Love and praise to Christ belong.” 


Would we reach souls, we must use the Lord’s own 
way; read His own words, full of narrative, full of in- 
cident. But few, comparatively, can be reached by ab- 
stract theory, by theology all fixed and elaborated. 
The ‘come, see a man who told me all things that ever 
I did; is not this the Christ?” from the lips of the 
woman at Jacob’s well, moved the men of Sychar as 
perhaps none of their learned rabbis and scribes could 
have done. It was the truth, all fresh from a heart 
that had felt its awakening power, and so could teach 
it to others. The blind man who had received his 
sight could not argue the case with these learned men 
of the Sanhedrim, but he could bring the all-con- 
vincing argument : “One thing I do know; whereas I 
was blind, now Isee.” All soul-saving preaching is 
of this sort: “that which we have seen and heard de- 
clare we unto you ;”’ it still preaches now as when John 
moved the multitudes, as when Bishop Taylor of Africa 
preached in the streets of San Francisco. Luther, the 
learned priest, would say : “I want to preach so that 


238 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


, 


the children can- understand me;” and so will every 
preacher who takes the divine Master for an example. ~ 
One of Bishop Taylor’s sermons we will here present. 
It is called : 


THE NEW PREACHER OF GADARA. 


Crossing the Jordan at Bethsaida, near the inflow 
of that rapid river into the lake of Gennesaret, we pro- 
ceed along the northeast and eastern shore of the lake 
for about nine miles, when we strike the hill country, 
or mountains of Gadara. Here we find the people ina 
great state of excitement and fear. 


“Good friends, what on earth has struck this region 
with terror and alarm? ” 


“O, sir! The giant of these mountains, hitherto a 
peaceable, harmless man, has recently gone mad, and 
his amazing strength and ferocity have rendered it en- 
tirely unsafe for women and children, and even for the 
men, to travel the highways, or to go outside of their 
own houses. We made appeals to the government for 
protection, and troops were sent to arrest and imprison 
the giant. The troops had little trouble to find and 
even to bind him, for he had no fear of them. They 
loaded his arms with strong chains, and clasped and 
riveted great fetters or bars of iron round his legs, when 
all of a sudden he burst off his chains, as Samson did 
the ‘green withs’ of the Philistines, and he rent his fet- 
ters to pieces, as though they had been made of clay; 
and the soldiers had to run for their lives. Stronger 
forces were sent, and thus he was often bound, but 
every time he freed himself the moment the soldier- 
police thought they had him, so that they gave it up 
and decided he could not be bound nor tamed. All 
this tended to increase the dread and despair of the 
people. / 

“See, yonder in the cemetery, on that high hill ; 
there he goes. See how he raves in madness and de-_ 
spair. He is the terror of the people, but the greater 
enemy of himself. See the blood streaming from his 


~ 





ow 


THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 239 


head and face. He has been using sharp stones on 
himself, trying to commit suicide.” 

“Poor fellow, he is to be pitied as well as feared 

“Yes, he has a ‘home’ and ‘friends’ in Gadara, and 
has been known as one worthy of both, before this 
awful thingcame on him. ’Tis said he is possessed of 
devils.” 

“Do the people of Gadara believe that such things 
as devils exist?” 

“That is the teaching of the ancients. If any peo- 
ple around here ever doubted the truth of it, they know 
now itis awfully true. Causes, visible or invisible, are 
known by their effects. That giant, strong as he was, 
has now superhuman strength. It is not from God, for 
its operation is purely evil. If the man is not possessed 
by devils, then by some dreadful change of his nature 
he has himself becomeadevil. If one man may be 
thus changed, then why not many more? So it is of 
little importance, whether devils degenerate from fallen 
angels or from bad men; their existence and devilish 
deeds can’t be denied by people who walk with their 
eyes open. 

“Moreover, the countries of Judea, Samaria, and 
Galilee across the water, are full of rumors abouta 
great prophet who is healing all manner of diseases, 
and ‘casting out many devils’ from people possessed of 
them. 

“Indeed, just across in the village of Magdala,a 
noted woman, named Mary, had seven devils cast out 
of her at one time by this great prophet. 

“It is said the healer is expected to visit Gadara 
soon. 

“Tt may be the many devils cast out in Galilee 
have combined their forces in our giant to meet the 
prophet on his arrival and conquer and hurl him into 
the sea. So fwe may expect, any day, such atrial of 
strength as will astonish the nations. 

‘““Many, indeed, declare the prophet absolves sin- 
ners from all their sins against God; hence, must be 


240 WAYSIDE ssI0b tn GEIES: 


the divine prophet, the long-looked-for Messias. The 
learned pious men of the Holy City, and even the 
Samaritans of Mt. Gerizim, emphatically say they 
‘know Messias cometh, and when He is come, He will 
tell us all things.’ 


“Some of the scribes gather from the prophetic 
writings that He will come as an all-conquering king, to 
lead the armies of Israel and smash the Roman legions, 
and re-establish forever the throne of his father David. 


‘Others interpret the prophetic writingsas describ- 
ing a person of surpassing dignity and power, yet a man 
of deepest humiliation and suffering. Isaiah, for ex- 
ample, 700 years ago shouts from his tower of divine 
vision, ‘Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he 
shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. So 
shall he sprinkle many nations’-—the same person who 
sprinkled one nation at the Red Sea—‘so shall he 
sprinkle many nations.’ ‘The kings shall shut their 
mouths at him;’ stand before his presence in solemn 
awe and adoring silence.” 


Suddenly the scene begins to change. We see, 
nearing the shore, a stranger of marked appearance. 
And we behold ‘ta man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief.” ‘His visage was marred more than any man, 
and his form more than the sons of men.” : 


What does this mean? Has He been defeated in 
battle? Nay, He is anall-conquering King! 


Is He suffering chastisement for sin? 


Yes, but Heis sinless. ‘He was wounded for our 
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities ; the chastise- 
ment [ necessary to secure our peace with God ] was on 
Him.” 

This description of a humiliated, suffering Messiah 
corresponds exactly with the character of the man 
called Jesus of Nazareth, and it remains to be seen 
whether He shall not, as a voluntary sin-offering for 
the people, “be led from prison and from judgment,” 
“and be cut off out of the land of the living ;” and, as 


“we 





“THE DEVILS BELIEVE AND TREMBLE.” 241 


further described by Isaiah, ‘prolong His days and be 
made the intercessor for the transgressors.” 

Ah, here He comes; they call His name Jesus, 
Now we shall witness the more than mortal tug of war 
between the reputed impersonation of God and the im- 
personation of devils in the devil-giant of Gadara. 

The little ship prepares to land its precious freight. 
Hear the shouting of the multitude; see the crowds 
coming on the distant hills ; but before they have time 
to assemble, the devil-man rushes in. Dashing down 
from the tombs he runs furiously for an onslaught ; 
but, instead of an attack, the giant falls at the feet of 
Jesus. He “worshiped Him” —he surrendered and 
threw himself on the mercy and divine might of Jesus. 
The devils, still trying to maintain the position “of a 
strong man armed,” used the man’s vocal organs, ‘‘and 
cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘What have I to do 
with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I 
adjure Thee by God that Thou torment me not.’” 

What was he doing there if he had nothing to do 
with Jesus? He came in his presumption to conquer ; 
and now, utterly foiledand'defeated, he begs not to be 
cast into the bottomless abyss of hell, where all such 
will be doomed in the Day of Judgment. Those poor 
devils thought their day had come, and begged, when 
driven from the domain divine of a human soul, to take 
lodging even in a herd of hogs. Jesus asked them: 
‘What is thy name ?” and he answered: ‘My name is 
Legion, for we are many.” A Roman legion is ten 
regiments. 

The human soul is designed to be a habitation of 
God, through the Spirit. When God is out, there is 
plenty of room inside for ten legions of devils. These 
must all be cast out before God will come in; but we 
see with what dispatch the Lord Jesus clears the prem- 
ises, when, like the Gadarene, we run to Him, surrender 
to Him, receive Him and trust Him. See what a change 
was wrought ina moment; within probably an hour the 
devil-man was delivered, regenerated, called and com- 


242 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


missioned to preach the gospel, and appointed to a 
circuit embracing Decapolis and the ten cities of 
Gadara. 
He prayed Jesus that he might attach himself to 
His band of disciples. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him 
not, ‘‘but saith unto him, Go home unto thy friends, 
' and tell them what great things the Lord hath done 
for thee.” Mark 5. 


LETTER FROM BROTHER BUSS. 


Lena, Ill., June 22, 1890 
DEAR SISTER COOKE : I wrote you a card, in town, 
a few days after I got your letter ; whether you got it 
or not I cannot tell. The storms in this part of the 
country are very heavy, and the earth is full of water. 
Our corn is gone to weeds,. and we shall have to pull 
them out with our hands and hoes—what wecan, at — 
least. There has not a murmur, as yet, arisen in my 
heart. I think I never saw the heavens fuller of light- 
ning in my life, than last night ; I did not go to bed 
until two o’clock this morning, but spent most of the 
time in the granary, pleading with God to shield and 
‘have mercy on us. To-day is a beautiful day, the Sab- 
bath of the Lord ; and a more quiet rest from fear, and 
a more calm repose, I scarcely ever had than now. We 
can well afford to suffer here a little while for our 
Master, “for the glory which shall be revealed in us.” 
I miss at times the society of the faithful and the pious; 
but Iam happy to be God’s little prisoner of hope. 
I sing and pray all the day long—‘ Jesus is my joy 
and my song.” What the outcome to the poor farmers 
will be none pretend to tell, but they are looking sad. 
Whole towns are being blown away in different parts 
of the country. O the people are so thoughtless, vain, 
and wicked, that God comes out in awful judgment 
against us. Have you much rain in the parts where 
you are? Ifitis pretty general, it must be hard for 
camp- meetings. 
We live ina hard community in which to rear — 





pies ae ? 
i ¢ £ 


“FOLLOW THE LORD IN ALL THINGS.” 243 


boys ; but it is sonearly everywhere. I should have 
been glad to have located near a Christian school, but 
God has ordered otherwise. I was glad to learn, from 
your letter, of your enlargement of soul. Glory to 
God, He will enlarge the borders of Jacob. O my soul, 
what is more glorious than walking with God? O 
what a companion ! “In six trials 1am with you, and 
in the seventh I will not forsake you,” 

My sister, look for far greater manifestations of 
divine power. O reach out the hand of faith for all 
the fullness of the blessing. Ishall expect to hear 
from you soon. For more religion, without fail, Yours, 

Jutius Buss. 
EXTRACTS FROM MY JOURNAL.—CHURCH-FELLOWSHIP. 

Harvey, Feb. 27, 1892.—Some of the last words 
written by that blessed man of God, England’s great 
preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, were these in answer 
to one who had written to him about church-fellow- 
ship: ‘‘ Hold you fast by the good old way, and follow 
the plain Word of God. Live near to God, and keep 
out of controversy. The believer should be baptized, 
and should unite with those who keep the ways of the 
Lord; but I would not join with a people merely 
because they were baptized. Spiritual life, gospel doc- 
trine, simple worship, separation from the world—these 
are great things, and second to nothing. Follow the Lord 
in all things, and may His grace direct you.” ‘‘ That they 
may with one mouth and one heart glorify God.” His 
dying words of triumph were: “I have fought the 
good fight, I have kept the faith.” O that the mantle 


_ of this Elijah might fall on many a young Elisha. 


‘Let the great sea of soul that swelleth itself with 
waves calm itself, my God, on Thee.”. So said St. 
Augustine. How like the words of the Psalmist ; 
‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on Thee ; because he trusteth in Thee.” How 
many times a day we need to quiet our souls in God ; 
what temptations to continual hurry and unrest or 
despondency ; but acalm look to Jesus, and, as he 


244 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


spoke to the waves of Galilee, so he will say to our 
troubled hearts: ‘‘ Peace be still,” and there will be a 
great calm. 

March 17--A most blessed work here. Bro. 
Shaw, from Michigan, wrote for me, and while holding 
a service, with dear Sister Underwood, in the county 
jail, I felt impressed to ask her to come with me; and 
the Lord has richly blessed her ministrations among 
the people; especially so to the principal of the 
academy. 

As she talked with him the light dawned, and he 
saw “that he had only a name to live.” His empty 
profession crumbled under the teaching of the Holy 
Ghost. Until three o’clock in the morning she bowed 
or labored with him before God, until his whole being 
melted and cried out for the living God. And He 
came as an angel of light, speaking peace to his troub- 
led soul. At once an earnest desire was kindled in his 
heart to work for God in his school. Prayer-meetings 
were established, and every minute that could be taken 
from his duties he devoted to Him who had loved and 
washed him from his sins in His own blood. Twenty- — 
three, at one of their afternoon meetings, professed 
_ conversion ; and all around us the Spirit is working ; 
the meetings often running till midnight. In the fac- 
tory they have started a noon-day prayer-meeting. A 
young man was leaving the evening meeting, when 
such a feeling came over him that hell was just before 
him that he ran into the basement, where the young 
men were holding a meeting ; “‘the pains of hell” got 
hold of him, and for hours his groans were awful ; then 
came the cries for mercy to Him who on Calvary bore 
his sins. Help came, and this soul was delivered from 
going down to the pit. As soon as his lips had con- 
fessed what Jesus had done for him, then came the 
warning to others to flee from the wrath to come—so 
vivid, so earnest, that men trembled before them. ‘O 
that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving 
health among all people.” 





- - 
i 
s < 
F\ 


CONVERSION OF AN EDUCATOR. 245 


Cuicaco, I1]., March 14, 1802. 

My Dear Brotuer: Iam writing to you in a rail- 
road depot, and have no other paper but my note-book. 
Every day, every hour is so occupied that I am glad to 
gather up the fragments of time to write to loved ones; 
soon we will be where, face to face in that land of light 
and glory, knowing as we are known, our communion 
will be perfect. Never, I think, had I greater reason 
for praise than now. ‘‘ Where shall I His praise be- 
gin?” I have written you since the death of Brother 
Charles. His death seems to have been greatly used 
of God in the conversion of his brother George. It is 
a miracle of mercy that, at the age of sixty, after a life 
of much ungodliness—‘“ beaten with many stripes,” his 
body often racked with pain, unable to walk except 
when leaning on some one’s arm, consulting many 
physicians, but all in vain—not able to attend the fune- 
ral, or to see Charles in the last sickness—he became 
awfully aroused to his own danger; sleep forsook him, 
and the struggle was great; but it ended ina glorious 
conversion, as bright a one as I ever saw in my life. 
How Charles would have rejoiced; z¢ may be that he does. 


Then there is another cause of thankfulness. We 
are in the midst of a glorious revival in a town of 
about 4,000 people. The work is wonderful; some 
nights we could not close until twelve o’clock. Yester- 
day (Sabbath), meetings were held with little intermis- 
sion all day long. The professor of the academy, a 
Christian by profession, awoke to see that he had only 
a name to live; the struggle lasted until three in the 


-morning, when the Lord spoke peace to his soul, and 


now he is all on fire with the love of God; is holding 
meetings in the academy, and many of the pupils are 
under the hallowed drawings of the Spirit; twenty- 
three have professed conversion. The men in one of 
the large factories have commenced daily prayer-meet- 
ings. A night or two ago, a young man arose to leave 
the meeting, but dared not, and went, instead, into the 
basement, where a few of the converts were holding a 


246 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


prayer-meeting. For hours that young man felt that 
he was within a step of hell, and his groans were awful; 
then the Lord drew near, and the young man’s faith 
grasped Him as his Savior. Then followed, from his 
lips, such exhortations as made the wicked tremble. 

The leader is a young man, S. B. Shaw. I do not 
know whether you knew him. He was converted when 
we were holding meetings in Indiana, and God has won- 
derfully used him. A man of wondrous prayers, for 
hours together he will supplicate and groan before 
God. I asked him, one day, if he would meet me at 
the depot when I arrived from Chicago; he hesitated, 
and then said that ‘‘much of his success in the meeting 
depended on his being alone with God the last hour 
before the service.” Has it not ever been that those 
who have moved the world have been men of much 


prayer? O let us, as much as possible, follow in their | 


footsteps. ; 

Tell me all about home friends. Do you hear 
often from Henry and his family? They are all as 
well as usual. Is there any change in Thomas’ family? 
Hope you are not suffering more from cough and 
asthma. I ama wonder to myself; but it is all of the 
Lord. Good-bye; God bless and keep you, His beloved, 
in safety, is the prayer of your loving sister, 

SaraH A. Cooke. 
BISHOP HAMLINE. 

I have been reading, while here, some in the life of 
Bishop Hamline. From a high position, full of pride 
and skepticism, he was brought down to the lowest 
depths of humiliation, to see himself utterly helpless 
and undone. His only child was smitten by the hand 
of death, and he saw his heart an utter desert, without 
one spark of goodness. Then Jesus appeared to this 
lost one, and he was called from the law to preach the 
everlasting gospel. God wonderfully blessed his 
labors, and yet, amidst it all, he felt that in his heart 
were the roots of many evils which, “springing up, 
troubled him.” His sense of unfitness and unworthiness 





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wae 1 n 
ae Ute oe ee ee 


i.e tae ae 


Le he. 





THE EXPERIENCE OF BISHOP HAMLINE. 247 


at times unmanned him. He says: “I spent, for sev- 
eral weeks, much time before God. I felt that without 
a clean heart I should soon fall.” And as he drew 
nearer and nearer to God, God drew nearer to him, and 
his soul increased in power and in the fruits of the 
Spirit. His own words were: “While entreating God 
for a clean heart, my mind was led to contemplate the 
image of Jesus as the single object of desire ; to be 
Christlike, to possess all the mind that was in the 
blessed Savior; and this became the burden of my 
earnest prayer. ‘And why do you not take this image?’ 
was suggested ; ‘for He has taken yours. Look at the 
crucified Lamb; why does He there hang and bleed, 
His visage more marred than any man, and His form 
more than the sons of man? - Is it for Himself? No, 
Ono! He is innocent, immaculate. It is for you; 
there on the cross He bears your sins, and shame, and 
weakness, and misery, and death; and why does he 
bear them? To give you, in their stead, His purity, and 
strength, and honor, and bliss, and life. Why then not 
take thisimage? Give Him your sins, and take His 
purity ; give Him your shame, and take His honor ; 
give Him your helplessness, and take His strength ; 
give Him your misery, and take His bliss; give Him 
your death, and take His life everlasting, Nay, yours 
He has already. Nothing remains but that you take 
His in exchange. Make haste; now, just now, He 
freely offers you all.’ Suddenly I felt as though a hand 
omnipotent, not of wrath but of love, were laid upon 
my brow. That hand, as it pressed upon me and 
moved downward, wrought within and without, and 


_ wherever it moved it seemed to leave the. glorious im- 


press of the Savior’s image. For a few minutes the 
deep of God’s love swallowed me up;; ‘all its billows 
rolled over me.” My joys now became abundant, but 
peculiar. In my happiest hoursmy joy mingled with 
such a sense of vileness as I cannot describe. Some- 
times, in my near approaches to my Savior (for I 
seemed to commune with Him almost face to face), 


248 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. an 


with tears pouring almost like rain from my eyes, I — 
used to say, ‘O my beloved Lord, how canst Thou 
visit and inhabit a heart so vile?’” He says, in aletter 
to his wife, in referring to his experience, of ‘‘an absence 
of joy and love ; I cannot tell the reason ; ‘but the cup 
which my Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?’” 

How much alike are the ie of all God’s 
children ! 


March 25.—O what love, nba veel love! 


“Determined to save, He watched o’er my path 
When, Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death ; 
And can He have caused me to trust in His name, 
And thus far have led me, to put me to shame?” 


March 30.—Have for nearly a month been labor- 
ingin Harvey with Bro. Shaw. What is the secret of his 
success? Mostly in his getting hold of God for the 
people. How he groans and pleads for their salvation; 
often for hours holding on for His presence and bless- 
ing. The message to-day was, “Bringing into captiv- 
ity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 

April 13.—Much impressed by these remarks of 
Brother Tinckham : 

“And greater works than these shall ye do.” On 
the day of Pentecost 3,000 souls were born into the 
kingdom. By God’s power we are to turn from dark- 
ness into light, and to bring them from the kingdom of 
Satan into that of His own dear Son. The devil tries 
to get you uneasy ; this means a want of confidence in 
God. Cherish every intimation of the Spirit. You 
want the resurrection power of Christ’slove. When I 
was saved in a worldly church, I did not have to carry 
it. Itdid not travel on my train. Ask God for just 
what you want. Light? why, God bless you! there is 
light everywhere ; ‘walk in it.’ I had in my employ a 
man and his wife. I found that they were both thieves, 
but I held on to God for them, and intime He troubled 
their consciences, and both became Christians. You 
must have your threshing-teeth dipped in the blood of 





Ti ee 


FELLOWSHIP—SELF-EXAMINATION. 249 


the Lamb. If you jerk the fishing-line too quick, you 


will tear the fish’s mouth and lose him. Wait on the 


Lord; He will teach you. Why do you get dry in your 
souls? The Radicals and the Conservatives are afraid 
of compromising in love. Cemented together in the 
blood of Jesus, servants one of another. If love fails, 
everything fails. How is the fellowship with God’s 
children lost? If you have not fellowship, find out 
the cause. The golden key which Peter used to open 
the door of heaven is kept in lowly submission to 
Jesus Christ. ‘I have chosen thee.” We have to love 
them who are unloveable. You must bring them to 
Jesus; ask Him to give you the grace. “He giveth 
more grace.” We must be servants one of another, 
One thought of evil of any one will disturb the union. 
Trace your lives back and see where you have lost your 
fellowship. Don’t bang, and rattle, and dictate, and no 
God back of it. Live in the Spirit, like John on the 
isle of Patmos. Don’t try tolive only now. This faith 
that works by love keeps us in the fullest submission 
to Christ. No faith in anxiety. 


May 18.—Struck to-day with these rules of the 
holy William Bramwell: “Speak evil of no one; else 
your words, especially, would eat as a canker.” “Keep 
your thoughts within your own breast, till you come to 
the person concerned.” “Tell every one what you 
think wrong in him, lovingly and plainly, and as soon 
as may be; else it will fester in your own heart. Make 
all haste to cast the sins out of your own bosom.” 


June 17.—‘I nothing have, I nothing am; 
My treasure’s in the dying Lamb, 
Now and forever more,” 


Isthe language of myheart this morning. For nearly 
three weeks I have been in Milwaukee, laboring with 
Sister Ada Holbrook and Sister Nina Marsh. My own 
soul was helped and strengthened, and tokens of the 
Lord’s presence and blessing have been given. 


250 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


~ 


June 19.—‘‘Let all my works in Thee be wranehe ; 


Let all be wrought in God.” 


Making plans without a constant reference to the 
will of God, how worthless they are! 


“Thy glorious eye pervadeth space; 
Thou art present, Lord, in every place; 
And wheresoe’r my lot may be, 

My spirit still would cling to Thee— 
To Thee, my Lord, to Thee. 


‘““Whate’er pursuits my time employ, 
One thought shall fill my soul with joy; 
This silent, secret thought shall be, 
That all I want I find in Thee— 

In Thee, my God, in Thee.” 


September 4.—In a few days after camp-meeting 
there came a strange reaction of feeling—such a dead- 
ness; I could not realize anything as I wanted to. It 
might be that the emotional nature had been over- 
wrought, I having been to eight or nine meetings. 
“Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I 
love Thee.” Some help in speaking, both morning 
and evening, in ourchurch. Was much impressed with 
the words: ‘Looking diligently, lest any fail of the 
grace of God; lest any root of bitterness, springing up, 
trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” This fol- 
lowed directly after the words, ‘“ Follow peace with all 
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord.” Every moment I need the cleansing blood, 
and “the watchfulness unto prayer.” 


October 22.—Spent two weeks at my brother’s, in 
Armstrong. Took the two Sabbath-morning services, 
the pastor being away. On the second Sabbath I went 
into the village. Had a little liberty in speaking in 
the United Brethren Church Sabbath-school. In visit- 
ing, I found a family who had lately returned from 
_ Kansas, where they had lost all their property. Mrs. 
W.’s heart seemed tender. Asked if I could holda 
prayer-meeting there the next evening. The Lord was 





GOD’S RIGHTEOUS ANGER AGAINST SIN. 251 


with us there; and the following evening we held one 
at a neighber’s; then one at my brother’s. My time 
was up, I having promised to be at Harvey on the Sab- 
bath. How I missed it by not pushing out earlier. 
Believe that will be the Lord’s way of beginning a 
work in Armstrong. 


“GOD IS ANGRY WITH THE WICKED EVERY DAY.” 


“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
against all ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men 
who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”—Romans I: 18. 


The law is holy, just and good. Revealed, how? 
By the written, mighty Word of God. See the ark 
floating on the world of waters. For more than one 
hundred years Noah had been preaching righteousness; 
there was scarcely any written language in those days; 
but Noah, warned of God, prepared anark. He lifted 
up his voice on high, and all the while the ark was 
building, above the sound of the hammer, above the 
voice of Noah, would be heard the voice of God in 
men’s souls, calling them to repentance. The day of 
wrath comes for those sinners of Noah's day; the time 
of mercy and warning has passed; the cattle, the fowls, 
the creeping things, moved of God, have gone into the 
ark, with Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives; 
then God shut the door. ‘“ He shuts, and no man can 
open.” For forty days the rain falls and the fountains 
of the great deep are broken up, and the windows of 
heaven are opened. I saw the desolation in Chicago 
in 1871; men’s hearts failing them for fear, when one- 


third of the city was laid in ashes; but what was that 


compared to this? No escape! Steadily the waters 
rise, until the highest mountains are covered and 
everything that has breath, outside of the ark, has 
perished. 

All through the ages God-is raising up these 
preachers of righteousness. From the courts of kings; 
yea, from the throne, they come. A Moses hears the 
voice of God in the court of Pharaoh; hears the voice 





252 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


of God, and catches a glimpse of the unseen and eter- 

nal, and before it all the glories of Pharaoh’s throne 

and kingdom pale into insignificance. Great sacrifices 
for God bring great revelations of God to the soul. Face 

to face were the communions enjoyed between Moses 

and his God; forty days alone with Him; Mount Horeb — 
trembled when He came down to give His law to the 
people, and boundaries were set so that -not a beast 
should touch it; but Moses was there to receive it. — 
‘The law was given by Moses.” How often he stood © 
as an intercessor, when the wrath of God was revealed 
from heaven. Hear, hear these murmurings; the water 
has failed: God is ready to supply their every need, 
but they in their unbelief murmur against Moses; he 
stands upon the rock, and the waters gush forth, em- 
blem of the ‘“ water of life,” which 1,400 years after 
flowed from Christ the Savior, the victim on Mount 
Calvary, the Lamb of God; and still it “flows on, and 
shall forever flow,” till the last sinner shall have slaked 
his thirst, his soul’s thirst, at this fountain. The justice 
of God would condemn the sinner at once, and he 
would be consumed at once but for the intercession, 
the atonement made for the sins of the world. “They 
that honor Me I will honor, saith the Lord.” God gave 
His servant a sight of the promised land, from Dan to 
Beersheba, from the top of Mount Nebo. His work 
was done: ‘the battle fought, the victory won”—the 
‘Well done, good and faithful servant.” Fourteen 
hundred years after, we catch a glimpse of him on the 
Mount of Transfiguration; and yet, once more, the 
inspired Apostle John, looking into the glories of 
heaven, says: ‘And they sing the song of Moses and 
the Lamb.” 


‘Warn them for Me.” Such is God’s method all 
through the history of the world. ‘“ Noah, being warn- 
ed of God, prepared an ark.” It was only a warning ; 
no gathering clouds told of that deluge which should 
sweep a world to destruction. It was only the voice of 
God. O how often you have heard it! Jesus said 





a 


THE UNSAVED ARE ALREADY CONDEMNED. 253 


that when he should be glorified, His Spirit would 
“reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment.” From earliest childhood that Spirit has fol- 
lowed on your track. 

Said a man, the other day : “I can get along very 
well when I am well, but when I am sick I feel awful.” 
O yes; you know on what a brittle thread hangs 
human life, and you go to your own place. “ He that 
believeth not'is condemned already, for the wrath of 
God abideth on him.” You do not have to die to be 
lost already ; “forthe wrath of God is revealed against 
all unrighteousness.” Tribulation and anguish come to 
every soul ; the broken law of God calls for vengeance. 
Do you know how that law was given? Amid thunders 
and lightnings, the whole mountain moved, and so ter- 
rible was the sight that Moses said: “I exceedingly 
fear and quake.” And yet God might never have 
uttered these commandments, for all you care about 
them. How many have kept those commandments 
even one day? When the oath rolled from your lips, 
did you know that your Maker, He in whose hands 
your breath is, and in whom are all your ways, has 
said, ‘‘ Thou shalt notswear?” Did you know that He 
has said, “‘ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guilt- 
less who taketh His name in vain?” So you stand con- 
demned already. Did you know that He who made 
the heavens and the earth has made one day in seven 
to be kept holy? Hehas said, ‘“‘ Remember the Sab- 
bath-day to keep it holy.” How many of you have 
kept itholy? Has it not been a day of feasting, of visit- 
ing, of work, or of pleasure? How many thoughts of God 
init? Has He not said: “ Thou shalt not covet?”” How 
many covetous men and women here get all they can 
by almost any means? You are idolaters ; ‘‘ beware of 
covetousness, which is idolatry.” The law of God is 
just as binding to-day on every soul of man as when it 
was given on Mount Sinai. 


254 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


PREACHERS like Paul are needed. Charles H. 
Spurgeon once said: ‘O if you could have seen Paul 
preach, you would not have gone away from the Savior 
as you do from some of us, with half a conviction that 
we do not mean what we say. His eyes preached a 
sermon without his lips, and his lips preached it not in 
a cold and frigid manner, but every word fell with an 
overwhelming power upon the hearts of hishearers. He 
preached with power, because he was in downright ear- 
nest. He was the kind of: preacher you would expect 
to walk right down the pulpit-stairs into his coffin and 
then stand before his God ready for his last account. — 
Where are the men like that? Where the men like 
George Whitfield, who seldom preached but the tears 
would flow ; his own heart so melted that it melted 
and broke others ; his communion with Jesus so close 
before preaching, that like Moses he brought among 
the people rays of divine glory? O where the men who 
get sonear Jesus that they catch His divine tender- 
ness and weep as they cry ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
thou that stonest the prophets, how oft would I have 
gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens, but ye 
would not?’ Where are the deep, tender, impassioned 
longings which break forth in groans and tears over 
the lost?” : 


We think as we read his sermons, that he had 
caught much of the spirit that Paul had, with his 
exalted views of Jesus. An extract from one of his ser- 
mons we subjoin, about the Savior whom he so loved; | 

“Look at Him; can your’ imagination picture 





THE BOUNDLESS KINGDOM OF OUR LORD. 255 


Him? Behold His transcendent glory! The majesty of 
kings is swallowed up; the pomp of empires dissolves 
like the white mist of the morning before the sun ; the 
brightness of assembled armies is eclipsed. He, in 
Himself, is brighter than the sun, fairer than the moon, 
more terrible than an army with banners. See Him! 
See Him! O, hide your heads, ye monarchs ; put away 
your gaudy pageantry, ye lords of this poor narrow 
earth! His kingdom knows no bounds; without a limit 
His vast empire stretches out itself. Above Him all is 
His ; beneath Him many a step are angels, and they are 
His; and they cast their crowns before His feet. With 
them stand His elect and ransomed, and “#e7r crowns too 
are His. And here upon this lower earth stand His saints, 
and they are His, and they adore Him; and under the 
earth, among the infernals, where devils growl their 
malice, even there is trembling and adoration; and 
where lost spirits, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, 
forever lament their being, even there is the acknow- 
ledgment of His Godhead, even though the confession 
helps to make the fire of their torment. In heaven, in 
earth, in hell, all knees bend before Him, and every 
tongue confesses that He is God. If not now, yet in 
the time that is to come, this shall be carried out, that 
every creature of God’s making shall acknowledge His 
Son to be ‘God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” — 


WHY OUR LACK OF POWER? 


“And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, the Lord 
shall reveal even this unto you,” are words that often 
-come as J look up for light, or am in any way buffeted 
- by the enemy. They come like a sweet breathing of 
peace on my soul—an assurance that all is well; nothing 
has interrupted, nothing has separated me from the love 
of Christ. 

A little worldliness, a little swerving from the nar- 
row way the Lord has marked out for us, and the spir- 
itual light has ceased to shine; the joys of God and 
salvation have become a thing of the past; 


256 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


‘“ Hosannahs languish on our tongues, 
And our devotion dies.” ms 


The soul wanders in the wilderness, tempted and 
tried, or plunges into forbidden things to fill the void 
within. 

Especially in listening to the reasoning of friends, 
Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, will 
come in. ‘You will never,” said a dear friend once to 
me, when I had freely opened my heart to her as to 
the very plain way I believe the Lord would have me 
dress, ‘‘you will never have any influence with people 
if you dress so. They will think you are nothing, 
nobody.” Ah yes, if the end was just drawing people 
to us; if we were the God they are to worship, it 
would be so. If the great forerunner of our Lord, 
John the Baptist, had had self in view, he would not 
have worn the camel’s-hair garment, the leathern girdle 
about his loins; would not have had the locusts and © 
wild honey for his fare. And when the people gath- 
ered around him, his testimony would not have been 
only “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare 
ye the way of the Lord!” and speaking of the mighty 
One he heralded, “‘ whose shoes’ latchet Iam not worthy 
to stoop down and unloose’—self was all lost. Like 
his Master— 


“Cold mountains and the desert air 
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer. 
The desert his temptation knew, 
Its conflict and its victory too.” 


Still on us, as on those of every age, the three foes: 
press—the world, the flesh and the devil; and many a 
Peter will be ready, as the Spirit urges on to self-denial 
and cross-bearing, with “this be far from thee.” Well 
for us if our Lord so richly dwells in us by faith that 
we see the foe and say with him, ‘‘ Get thee behind me, 
Satan.” 

Speaking, the other day, of the glorious manifesta- 
tions often witnessed on the St. Charles camp-ground, 








SARAH A. COOKE 








REV. JAMES CAUGHEY 





THE OLD ST. CHARLES CAMP-GROUND. 257 


I was interrupted by one of the company saying: “But 
there are not such times now, are there?” I had to 
answer, ‘‘No! Not such great manifestations of the 
Spirit’s power.” Then the question, Why? There may 
be other reasons, but these seem the principal ones: It 
used to be a wonderful place of prayer. You could 
scarcely go out into the groves, between the services, 
but you would come on the ones and twos, or hear the 
sounds of wrestling prayer; it was no place of feasting 
—simple, plain food; and on the Friday a universal 
fast until evening. There used to be but little visiting, 
and there was much looking after the lost souls and 
bringing them to the Savior’s feet; and then such 
_ preaching — such melting down before the Lord! 
“There was no strange god” with us in those days. 
Our fellowship in Jesus was sweet, and we enjoyed 
hallowed communion with each other. 

Brethren, as the time hastens on for another of 
these hallowed gatherings, alone with God let us each 
one renew our covenant, inquire for the old paths, and 
look up in simple, believing faith for the old power. 
We need it on our own hearts; we need it for the many 
who will gather there unsaved. The same mighty, 
Holy Ghost power which descended on the first disci- 
ples would fall on us, our consecration and faith being 
in the same measure. ‘We are not straitened in Him, 
but in ourselves.” Shall we have it? “Be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt.” Says our glorified, risen Redeemer : 
“Tf ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall 
ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.” 

SARAH A. COOKE, 
HOLINESS SOUGHT AND FOUND. 


BELOVED SISTER SKINNER: “Then shall we know 
if we follow on to know the Lord.” These words are as 
true now as when the holy prophet of old, moved on by 
the Holy Spirit, wrote them. I believe that in every 
truly saved soul there is aconstant longing for holiness. 
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord.” “Seeing the prom- . 





258 _ WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


ise afar off,” but ever following it, are those of His dis- — 


ciples who hear His voice. Brought up in a community 
of Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Baptists, none of 
whom ever held or taught the possibility of the soul, 
while tabernacling in this house of clay, being entirely 
freed from sin, and yet ever teaching a high state of 
grace, a growing-up into Chfist in all things, one day, 
in visiting my _ brother-in-law, a Methodist local- 
preacher, I noticed in his library a book entitled, “Entire 
' Devotion.” The title at once interested me, and I 
_asked the privilege of borrowing it, which was granted; 
and the next day-—the Sabbath afternoon—a lovely 
sunny day (how well I remember it), Isat reading it. 
It was on ‘our reasonable service;” the consecration 
of all the redeemed powers of soul and body to God; 
His own command—“Be ye holy, for I am holy.” The 
command is an absolute one; surely, the author rea- 
soned: He would never give a command that He did 
not intend, or we could not obey. I saw it, and with 
the blessed illumination came a light, above the bright- 
ness of the sun, all over me and the book I was read- 
ing. According to her direction, I began to consecrate, 
to yield my all, to God. Then came before me the 
words of the apostle to the Christian women of his 
day: “Whose adorning let it not be the outward 
adorning, the wearing of gold, and of jewels, and of © 
‘costly apparel.” I began to trim down my dress, and 
on my soul there was a great increase of spiritual light 
and power; but, knowing nothing of the confession of the 
mouth as necessary to retain the blessing, and having 
none who enjoyed it to take counsel with, the light be- 
came dim; but not for one day, did I lose the evidence of 
being a child of God. J read and deeply enjoyed the 
lives of Fletcher, Mrs. Fletcher, Hester Ann Rogers, and 
Carvosso; but in some way it is not like the living fel- 
lowship of those who have theblessing. Are there any 
such saints on God’s earth to-day? I would often ask. 
How I would love to see them! 


Some five or six years passed away, and, landing in 





THE CRUCIFIXION OF SELF. ; 259 


America, I was soon invited to a camp-meeting at St. 
Charles, Ill. There I looked, for the first time, on the 
faces of some who had entered into this blessed experi- 
ence. What thrills of desire went through my soul; 
what a hungering! Their clothing was so plain, the 
seal on their countenances so unmistakable! 

“Holiness unto the Lord.” The cry went up from 
my soul—“‘O Lord, give me this experience.” ‘And 
will you pay the price?” the Spirit asked. ‘Will you 
come out from the world, as they have done, and be 
separate?” O how I tried to compromise with the 
Tord! I had got down to the plain apparel; plain 
clothes, but they should be good, was the little Zoar I 
would fain have sheltered in to save my reputation. 

The struggle went on. One day a group of these 
saintly ones stood outside their tent, and they were 
singing : 


“With Him I crucified must be— 
Let me die, let me die; 
Drive the nail, nor heed the groan— 
Let me die, let me die; 
This the way, and this alone !”’ 


O if in my sight there had been a literal cross and 
nails, I could not have more keenly realized the path 
before me; but the time of deliverance was at hand. I 
bowed on that camp-groundas a seeker. Brother 
Joseph Travis led me through my consecration. How 
thorough it was!—nothing untouched—my husband— 
the last struggle over! Most of the people, tired, had 
gone to their tents. One voice, like sweetest, tenderest 
“music, in that awful soul-struggle, would fall on my 
ear at intervals: ‘‘Help her, Lord!” How I under- 
stood then, as never before, the feelings of our Re- 
deemer in that awful night of Gethsemane, when He 
said to His sleeping disciples—‘Could not ye watch 
with Me one hour?’—the yearning for human sym- 
pathy. 

Satisfied that my all was laid on the altar, and 


260 _ - WAYSIDE SKETCHES. - 


that the witness of acceptance would come, and the 
hour late, the preacher dismissed us. When Abraham, 
“according to the command of God, had laid the sacri- 
fice on the altar, then he watched to keep it from pollu- 
tion, but a deep sleep fell on him and lo! a horror of 
great darkness; so that night to me it seemed as_ 
though the very powers of hell had been let loose on 
my soul. The struggle was awful, and in the very 
midst of the almost insupportable agony, I was about 
to awaken a dear friend, to go and pray with me, when 
the words were spoken: ‘He trod His Gethsemane 
alone, and so must you!” It passed, and I sank into a 
deep sleep; and with the morning light dawned the 
sweet consciousness that there had been a death unto 


sin—a new creation/—that the “strong man armed” — 


had been cast out, and Jesus all enthroned within. As 
I looked out on the camp-ground, O how pure every- 
thing looked—purity everywhere; and then came the 
thought: ‘‘ This is the same earth that Paul, and Moses, 
and John walked on; and [amas near God as they 
were!” I believe that if the command had come to 
start for the North Pole, I should only have asked the 
way. 
Now, my beloved sister-friend, I have given you a 
full account of all the way the Lord hath led me. 
May He greatly bless you; and through all keep the 
eye of your faith steadfast, the will continually yielded 
to Him. To you the tempter comes through your 
strong sympathies and desires to please others. May 
He in everything give you the victory. Amen and 


amen! And at-last, ere very long, together will we sing - 


around the throne ‘To Him who hath loved us and 
washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be 
honor and glory and praise for ever and ever; amen 
and amen!” In Jesus’ most precious love, thine, 
SarAH A. COOKE. 
EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. _ 

November 5, 1892.--I came yesterday to Benton 

Harbor, Mich. . Held a cottage-meeting last night; am 





hs 


> 





PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER. 261 


watching thesleadings of God’s providence. Read this 
morning in the life of Mr. Wesley. Speaking of him- 
self at the age of eighty-seven, when the infirmities of 
life were pressing hard upon him: ‘‘What I should be 
afraid of is, if I took thought for the morrow, that my 
body should weigh down my mind, and create either 
stubborness by the decrease of my understanding, or 
peevishness by the increase of my bodily infirmities; 
but Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God.” Read 
and commented on the gist Psalm. How the Lord 
helped me! 

November 6.—Cottage-meeting at Brother Sher- 
man’s. Spoke of Moses lifting up the serpent. One 
soul was much moved, and, we believe, gave herself to 
the Lord. Mrs. King was the first fruits at Benton 
Harbor. Now going, for a week, to help Brother Lab- 
rador, some seven or eight miles away, at Sodus. 

November 8.—Came to Mr. Humphry’s, at Sodus. 
School-house closed against us: “Surely the wrath of 
man shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath 
shalt Thou restrain.” — 

Sabbath.—Spoke on the Christian armor. Must 
more and more draw matter from the oracles of God; 
‘a never-failing treasure.” ‘Preach the Word.” 

November 17.—Watching unto prayer, with all 


"perseverance. How much there is in the Bible about 


prayer. ‘Then began mento call upon the name of 
the Lord.” The last part of the Christian armor, that 
which covers all the rest—“praying always, with all pray- 
er and supplication for all saints ;” and “prayer was 
made without ceasing for Peter ;” and so, from Gene- 
sis to Revelation, until the last word, there isan amen 
of prayer. Mr. Wesley’s rule was one hour alone with 
God, morning and evening, and he says: “Nothing was 
ever allowed to break this rule.’ How much our 
spiritual life will ebb or flow according to our com- 
munion with God. Bishop’s Asbury’s rule was, “ten 
minutes of every hour spent in prayer.” ‘There were 
giants in those days ;” in them was fulfilled the prom- 






262 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. — 


ise of ‘mounting up on wings as eagles, running with- 
out weariness, walking without fainting.” © 
November 22.—How few of the flock know how to 
feed themselves. This man knew the secret. Rev. 
John Parker says: “I know what I did when I wasa ~ . 
lamb in the fold, some fifty years ago; first, lread the 
Word diligently, daily; lovingly I went alone for 
secret prayer five times a day, for many years; I regu- 
larly went to my class and prayer-meetings ; I liveda life 
separated to God; I chose for my companions only ie 
those who loved Him most; I read the lives and writ- 
ings of Wesley, Clarke, Watson, Carvosso, Bramwell 
Fletcher and Hester Ann Rogers; I asked every- 
where for more light, more truth ; I] sought in prayer 
continually for more love, more faith, more humility. 
During the first seven years of my Christian life, I 
never heard a sermon on perfect love or sanctification, 
but I heard it in the testimonies of the saints. I hun- 
gered for it; I obtained it. Praise the Lord!” 


A backslider returned to-night—Bro. Gridley. 
Those that bear the burdens get the blessings. A life 
of ease and self-indulgence is always inimical to the 
true Christian life. 

November 27.—A blessed service. I read of the 
day of Pentecost. A sad state of things exists here in 
the church at Benton Harbor. There has been much 
biting and devouring, and being consumed one of 
another ; there is now a spirit of melting. I have been 
looking for a room to begin a mission in. O my Lord, 
lead me in all things! 

December 4.—Sabbath morning. “ Charity.” “Yet 
show I unto you a more excellent way.” ~ 


December 5.—Met with a most noble-spirited Ger- 
man woman ; had heard of hers as a sweet, lovely home. 
Under the most direct leadings of the Lord, she had 
married a man much older than herself, and having 
eight children. The Lord said to her: “Go and care 
for those children’s bodies and souls.” It was a home 


EXPERIENCES AND MEDITATIONS. 263 


of love ; her own three and his eight cared for alike ; I 
felt like taking my place at her feet. 

At Spinks Corners, Berrien Co., Michigan, Decem- 
ber 11-—Another Sabbath morning. Have been 
here nearly a week, in a neighborhood where infidelity 
and sin abound. O my Lord, Thou must make bare 
Thy holy arm if anything is accomplished; guide 
Thou every step of the way. 

March 4.—The Lord, for years, has especially laid 
on my heart Isaiah 23; 18, that my increase should not 
be treasured or laid up after supplying my own needs, 
except “for them that dwell before the Lord to eat suffi- 
ciently, and for durable clothing.” Be my wisdom, bless- 
ed Lord, in all these things. _O for the outbreathing of 
my soul ever to be that of the sainted Fletcher : 

‘I nothing have, I nothing am ; 
My treasure’s in the bleeding Lamb, 
Now and forever more.” 

March 6.—Left Armstrong this morning, and on 
the train a rich, full blessing came to my soul, with 
these words: “‘ And the peace of God, which passeth 
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, 
through Christ Jesus.” Twelve years ago yesterday my 
dear husband was laid away in the silent grave, and the 
promise given—‘Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord 
of Hosts is Hisname.” How blessedly fulfilled! And 
now I|-go forth, like Abraham, “not knowing whither 
I go.” Guide, my Lord, as Thou didst Thine ancient 
people, by the pillar of cloud and fire. May I never 
lead a useless life, or be burdensome to others. Make 
me sweeter, more tender in spirit, ever leaning on Thee, 
“the meek and lowly One.” 

News has reached us of the death of our beloved 
Brother Roberts, the father in our spiritual Israel 
How the words of Elisha have come to me. As he 
watched the departing form of Elijah, he cried: ‘“ My 
father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horse- 
men thereof!” What welcome there must have been 
for him in that land of light and glory! 


_ 264. ; WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


I am in the home of Mr. Thomas Bennett. 
not seen him for many years. What changes time has 
made! ‘“ The hoary head isa crown of rejoicing.” O 
the peaceable fruits of righteousness! Am much inter- 
ested in the book of William Taylor’s on Africa. 
What enlargement of heart, what grief expressed that 
so little is accomplished through want of faith in the 
promised help of God’s Spirit—still as full and free as 
on the day of Pentecost, when those first disciples asked 
for it, expected it, and had it. For weeks these words 
have been impressed on my heart: ‘He giveth His 
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.” 

ROSEVILLE, Ind., March 20.—Have been here 
nearly two weeks. Have had much freedom in preach- 
ing the Word. O how inexhaustible, opening and for- 
ever opening, its stores of riches, ‘the unsearchable 
riches of Christ.” ‘*‘ And take the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the Word of God ;” at every service there has 
been the enforcing and explaining of the Word, and 
the work has moved on blessedly. 

May 1.—Came to Cleveland on Saturday, on the 
invitation of Brothers Shaw and Goodrich. All this 
morning I have been engaged in writing for Bro. 
Shaw’s book—‘‘Remarkable Answers to Prayer.” 
Guide me, blessed Holy One, in every step of life’s 
journey, and help me in all things to glorify Thee! 

May 13.—Have been quite poorly this spring, suf- 
- fering much from dull headache ; thought it might be 
from overwork in Chicago, and that this opening at 
Cleveland might be for the body’s health, as well as 
for the work ; but have been no better. O for grace to 
rise above every bodily infirmity on the wings of faith 
and love! Fleming observes: ‘‘Wherever there is an 
increase of light in the church, there is always less 


religion, because it 1s not light acknowledged that brings — 


salvation ; but it ts the will, submitted to God's influence 
of light and knowledge, that brings the soul to God; 
therefore it is the will that is the great inlet to grace; 
“For if any man will do the will of God,” etc. ‘“ Who 


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MORE EXTRACTS FROM MY JOURNAL. 265 


_is my mother, my sister, my brother?” “He that 


doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” 


‘“Keep me dead to all below, 
Only Christ resolved to know ; 
Firm and disengaged and free, 
Seeking all my bliss in Thee.” 


Too much talking is unprofitable. Wesley, in 
writing to Fletcher, says: ‘‘One had need to be an 
angel, not a man, to converse three or four hours at 


_ once to any purpose.” Speaking of himself, he says 


he found that it dampened his desires, and left him 
with a dry, dissipated spirit. 
June 18.—‘ Looking diligently, lest any man fail of 
the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness, springing 
up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Un- 
ceasing vigilance alone helps to hold that to which we 
have by grace alone attained. 
July 9— 
‘“Where are the weeping prophets, Lord, 
That shook the ancient world; 
Where are the tears that freely flowed 
While living truth was hurled? 
With present grace we're not sufficed, 
Though saved from slavish fears, 
But ask of Thee, Thou conquering Christ, 
The eloquence of tears.” 


July 18.—Berrien Springs, Mich.—I wrote to-day 
to Sisters Ferries and Jones, missionaries to India. 

July 25.—Last night these words came to me so 
sweetly: “Walking blamelessly before Him in love;” 
and this morning, ‘Walking before Him in newness of 


Perlite a 


July 28.—Was at Berrien Springs ten days: saw but 
little accomplished. The workers were Brothers Zel- 
lars and Gardener and Sister Baker. Brother Baker 
was so out of health that he had to leave. Weall felt 
that the meeting was a great spiritual benefit to our 
own souls. Came yesterday to Hartford, to Bro. 
Baker’s, 


Sp RR = <a 


266° 2 |: ; WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


August 1.—On Sabbath had a day of victory, after ‘ 


much groaning before the Lord for more of His Holy 
Spirit, more love especially. Held three services with- 
out any weariness. 

August 7.—The first words given to me this morn- 
ing were: “Hold fast the profession of your faith with- 
out wavering.” Then came: ‘Faithful is He who hath 
promised, who also will do it.” And then: “And the 
Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His 
temple.” 

August 29.—The Lord has so blessed me lately 


with an increase of joy and communion with Himself. 


This morning I was greatly blessed in the application 
of these words: “And I give unto My sheep eternal 
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man 
pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”” Give me grace, 
give me heavenly wisdom, blessed Savior, that in all 
things I may walk worthy of the high vocation where- 
with I am called; inall lowliness and in all boldness in 


Thy cause, ever remembering whose I am, and whom I - 


serve. 

July 4—I came yesterday to a tent-meeting at 
Benton Harbor. O my Savior, ‘without Thee we can 
do nothing.” ‘Remember Thy promise unto Thy ser- 
vant upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.” ‘Lo, 


I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” 





Curcaco, IIl., September 13, 1893. 


My Dear BRotHER JAMES: Your letter has been 


long in reaching me, the friends where it landed not 
knowing my whereabouts. In the summer, from meet- 
ing to meeting, Iam. like a bird on the wing. I was 
indeed surprised to hear of your prostration by sick- 
ness, andslept but little that night. Many have been 
the loved ones called away during the last year or two; 


“and we are to the margin come.” Our lives have © 


been so closely allied since your conversion; such a 
longing for it from the time I was myself saved; and 


then the glorious change, and all along these years our 


~ 






-THE ‘*“* FULL AGE” OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 267 


lives have seemed to run parallel in the Lord’s work. 
Is it so that you will end the race first? Not our will, 
but His be done. A few more years of service, if for 
your good and His glory; but we will say amen, He 
doeth all things well; ‘“‘His ways are not our ways, nor 
His thoughts as our thoughts.” How good to have 
given you sucha kind and tender nurse in your dear 
wife. Should He take you, claim for her the promise, 
“Her Makerher husband, the Lord of Hosts His name:” 
the promise given to me when my dear husband died, 
and how wonderfully kept! O how He can fill every 
vacant place in the soul with Himself; there is no 
dreary void in the soul He fills. Twice, with much 
sweetness and solemnity, the Lord has spoken to me in 
these words: “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full 
age, like a shock of corn cometh inin his season.” And 
as Isee here and there blemishes and imperfections— 
not full maturity of Christian character—I feel not yet 
ripe. 

Hada blessed experience a few weeks ago. Inour 
tent was a very old lady, passed into the years of 
feebleness and imbecilitv. I was much drawn out one 
morning in pleading that I might not live to be useless 
and a trouble to others. No answer came at that time; 
but a few hours after, in the grove, with my Bible, my 
attention was drawn to the promise the Lord had given, 
especially the last part: ‘““As a shock of corn cometh in 
im his season,” not left in the field to wither orspoil. O 
how sweet the assurance was. Praise the Lord, how 
good, how gracious He is to us! “No good thing will 
He withhold from us;” His promises are the same 
' to-day as when they dropped from His lips, or were 
written by the pen of His prophets. 


Our relatives are, many of them, finding their way 
to Chicago this summer, drawn here by the World’s 
Fair. Harry Graves [nephew] was here in July. I 
looked forward with much interest to his coming. 
Very amiable, and most kind in disposition, but indif- 
ferent about the interests of eternity. Dear James, we 


268 " ~__ WAYSIDE SKETCHES.~ 


must bear them on our hearts before God; He can 
break through the indifference, and send conviction ~ 
deep and pungent. For years I have been bringing ~ - 


before the Lord, Armstrong, where Brother Henry and 
his four married children live. ‘“O that they may live 
before Thee.” My love to all the family. Yours in 
Jesus’ precious love, SaraH A. COOKE. ~ 


AT COLDWATER, MICHIGAN. 


A blessed camp-meeting at Coldwater, Michigan. 
There has been a peculiar depth and richness to many 
~of these Michigan camp-meetings. At this one, a day 


was devoted to the missionary cause. Dr. Reynolds, — 


of Africa, was with us. All of our missionaries to East 
Africa have been entertained by himself and wife, as 
they were on their way to their different fields of labor. 
They have been to our missionaries as Aquila and Pris- 
- cilla inthe early church. He spoke in the highest 
terms of Brother Agnew as a good, noble man, endur- 
ing much, but bearing up, sustained by an unfaltering 
faith in God and his divine mission to Africa. The 
doctor belongs to the Congregational church, and, with 
his wife, had charge of a territory as large as three of 
our States, until Brother Agnew went. They were 
sixty-five miles apart, but when Brother Agnew was sick 
nigh unto death with the African fever, and they sent 
for Dr. Reynolds, he never got off of his horse until he 
reached him; and inhis delirium Brother Agnew would 
say: “If Brother Reynolds was here, I should get well.” 


On one occasion, one of the kings sent twenty men to | 


escort Dr. Reynolds to him, but he was sick>and could 
not go. Then he sent ten more, with the message that 
he must go. Sick and feeble as he was, he started. 
The king was old, and all anxiety to know about “the 
book,” the Bible. Would it take him to heaven? 
Would it take his people there? And as the missionary, 
according to the custom of the land, presented the king 
with gifts, one after another they were handed to his 


attendants, but when “the Book” was given, that he re- | 


bon, 


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LIVING IN THE SPIRIT, NOT THE FLESH. 369 


served for himself. Pressing engagements kept him 
from following up this visit, and the king died, but his 
constant companion was the Bible, he having it tied 
around his neck. 

FROM MY JOURNAL. 


October 9, 1894.—Connersville, Indiana. Have 
been here, working with a Pentecost Band, some three 
weeks. God is with us. The first soul was clearly 
converted last night; O what joy it brought to our 
hearts! We are looking up to God for guidance about 
going to Richmond. There is no mission there, ina 
city of 20,000 people. Was so pained in -the Quaker 
Yearly Meeting, to find how these people, so blessed in 
the past, were leaving the oldlandmarks—most of them 
no longer separated from the world, but just following 
its vain fashions. I was much blessed in their Sabbath- 
morning devotional meeting, while telling of the first 
camp-meeting I ever attended; how the Lord spoke to 
me as I looked at the radiant faces of the saints, and 
the Holy Spirit told me they had taken the world from 
the outside (all so plainly dressed), and He had taken 
it from the inside; hence the pure look. Our Lord 
alters not His Spirit’s teachings, but is the same to-day 
as ever. 

October 28——This promise given me to-day at 
prayer: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, 
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto 
you. 

October 30.—Came to Indianapolis. I am looking 
up, and carefully watching the leadings of Providence. 
Anywhere, Lord, but make the path very plain before 
my face. 5 

November 10.—This day I enter upon my sixty- 
eighth year. May the Lord make this year one of 
greater growth in grace than any one since that of 
forty-five years ago, when in Thine infinite love Thou 
didst translate me from darkness into Thy wondrous 
light. I want more of tenderness and love towards 
others. Out in Indiana, laboring with a Pentecost 


270 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Band; the Lord is blessing us much in our study of - 


His holy Word together. I went this morning, the 
Jewish Sabbath, to the synagogue. O how formal, how 
dry—no Christ! Lord, hasten the day when the veil 
shall be taken away, and “they shall be brought in with 
the fullness of the Gentiles.” 

December 5.—See in myself too much of a self- 

justifying spirit. O my Savior, give me the victory, 

- especially with Brother C. I want, with him, calm 
gentleness. With all these different dispositions, make 
us, precious Lord, helpful to each other! 

December 13.—A_ blessed cottage-meeting last 
night. The first message this morning from my heart 
to the God of my life was: 


“Direct, suggest, control, this ie 

All I intend to do or say; 

‘That so my powers, with all their might, 
In thy sole glory may unite.” 

Nicholas II., who so lately ascended the throne of 
Russia, marrying a daughter of the Princess Alice, 
grand-daughter of the Queen of England, is saidto be re- 
ligiously disposed, like his ancestor Alexander II. As 
Thou didst, in the midst of all the°’worldliness and di- 


plomacy of court-life, bring him in childlike simplicity © 


to Thyself, and as all power in heaven and earth is still 
Thine, so bring him as a trophy of Thy redeeming love 
unto Thyself, blessed Savior ! 

I am not often impressed by dreams, but last night 
I had one that was quite remarkable. I thought quite 
a number of us were sitting in a room together; it was 
in my old home—7o La Salle avenue—and looking out 
of the window I noticed a most singular appearance, 
patches of green among the clouds. I told the friends 
there was an indication of a cyclone, and, passing into 
the kitchen, I saw the clouds moving quite rapidly, 
while one divided into two parts. They were quite 


black, and touched the earth, one of them moving ex- 


actly in the direction of our home. I went back and 
told of our danger, begging all who were unsaved to 








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SALVATION BETTER THAN HUMAN OPINION. 271 


get on their knees and cry to God for mercy. I tried 
to pray, but could not, but most peacefully cast myself 
on the love of God, and was kept in perfect peace, my 
mind stayedon Him. The house began to move, when 
I awoke and found it was all a dream. 

Wesley says, “that part of our economy, the pri- 
vate weekly meeting for prayer, examination, and 
particular exhortation, has been the great means of 
deepening and confirming every blessing that was re- 
ceived by the Word preached, and of diffusing it to 
others who could not attend the public ministry; where- 
as, without this religious conversation and intercourse, 
the most ardent attempts by mere preaching have 
proved of no lasting use.” ‘Every new victory which 
a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.” ‘“‘We should 
be continually laboring to cut off all the useless things 
that surround us; and God usually retrenches the super- 
fluities of our souls in the same proportion as we do 
those of the body.” Howtrue! 

Dr. Redfield says: “I now felt the power of the 
words, ‘No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy 
Ghost,’ as never before. It seemed no risk to hanga 
soul’s salvation on the merits of Christ. In this light I 
saw the sin of unbelief to be the great soul-destroying 
sin of the world, and, in comparison with it, murder, 
robbery, and other sins, of small account.” 

Some one has said: ‘“‘What have redeemed souls to 
do with the distinctions and subtleties of logical the- 
ology? He whom the eternal Word condescendeth to 
teach is disengaged from the labyrinth of human opin- 
ions. O Thou God, who art the truth, make me one 
with Thee in everlasting love!” 


VISITING. 


Perhaps there is no work that brings a richer har- 
vest than visiting from house to house. How those 
first disciples went out, sent by their Master, in twos. 
His ways are always the best; from house to house 
they went, praising God, “‘and having favor with the 


272 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


people; and the Lord added daily to the church.” At 


the public worship, daily,and in the home-visiting, if — 


we would be successful, we must avoid all chit-chat, 
having only one object in going—to help souls heaven- 
ward; “the eye must be single.” We must go right 
from communion with the Lord. Billy Bray says: “If 
I went anywhere without first getting on my knees, the 
devil would be sure to get his claws on me!” Then di- 
rectly, or as soonas possible, enter upona spiritual con- 
versation—so much easier than if the world has got in 
first. When Philip joined the Ethiopian nobleman in 
his chariot, his first words went right to the mark: 
“Understandest thou what thou readest?” The willing 
hearer and able teacher had met, and soon he led him 
right to Jesus. Jesus at the well of Samaria, or receiv- 
ing Nicodemus, was just the same—leading the conver- 
sation to the spiritual. 


The people will talk to you of other churches and 
preachers, and be full of fault-finding, it may be, but do 
not take up with the conversation; be as a deaf man to 
all such talk; it will injure your own soul, and increase 
their prejudices against others. Open your Bible and 
select some touching incident, or something alarming, 
and tell of the glorious privilege of being a child of 
God. Remember, as you go, “that it is glad-tidings of 
great joy to all people,” and just what they need; and 
never leave, if you can help it, without prayer. Many 
times, when apparently my words had failed to reach 
or move the hearts of those I talked with, as I have 
brought their case to the Lord in their homes, what a 
melting and tenderness has come, and what a warm 
grasp of the hand, and an invitation to come again. 
Never, unless a soul is seeking, make your visits long; 
few people can talk profitably long together, even on 
religious subjects; and no time is so good for leaving as 
directly after prayer; avoid, if possible, any further 
conversation. Even if they are rude and discourteous, 
appear to take no notice; the devil in this very way de- 
feats himself, and afterwards they will be ashamed. I 





fhe SD 











“HE THAT WINNETH SOULS IS WISE.” 273 


remember one such instance. I went, one day, to the 

Northwestern depot, to make some inquiry about the 

trains, when IJ noticed a lady looking very intently at 

me, and she said: “Do you know me?” I toldherI had , 
no recollection of ever having met her before. ‘Don’t 

you remember,” she asked, “how I insulted you one 

day at the noon-day-meeting? You asked me if I was a 

Christian, and I was so rude to you—told you that was 

none of your business.” ‘Oh,’ she said, and her eyes - 
filled with tears, ‘I am a Christian now, and I have 
been to-day down to the noon-day meeting, hoping to 
meet you. I could not leave the city till I had seen 
you and asked you to forgive me.” We went into the 
waiting-room, and it was a sweet visit, never to be for- 
gotten. ‘He that winneth souls is wise;” and with this- 
we may link, “if any among you lack wisdom, let him 
ask of God.” Go with the consciousness that the Lord 
is with you. “Go into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature,’ in every home; hold onto 
the promise: ‘Lo, Iam with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world.” 


COL. CLARKE’S CHRISTMAS DINNER. 

In one placein Chicago, year by year, on a large 
scale, the Lord’s command is carried out: ‘‘ When 
thou makest a feast, call not in thy kinsmen, or thy rich 
neighbors, but call the poor, and the blind, and the 
halt, and the lame.” For years, Col. and Mrs. Clarke 
have been laboring in the Pacific Garden Mission, too 
East VanBuren street, their money, time, talents, laid 
a willing offering on the Lord’s altar. There, in the 
Pacific Mission, gather every night from one hundred 
to four hundred people; while the great work is the 
pointing of these unsaved ones to the Lamb of God, 
telling them of their deep poverty, and the unsearch- 
_ able riches of Christ, and of Him high over all whose 

Word cannot be broken. ‘ Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God and His righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you.” On this Christmas-day, 
when we commemorated the advent of our Messiah, 


274 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. i 


the doors of the mission were opened, to give to every — 


poor oneaChristmas dinner. Tickets had been distrib- 


uted before, and soon the large mission was filled; on — 


the platform were gathered those interested in and 
loving the mission-work. Col. Clarke is a philanthro- 


pist by nature ; but when Jesus came into his soul, “ the - 


” 


very hope of glory,” then came the yearning tender- 
ness for others. The meeting lasted most of the day ; 
the room back of the mission was filled six times ; it 
was a beautiful sight to see these hungry ones so 
bountifully supplied, then coming back and taking 
their places in the mission, joining in the songs of 
praise, and listening to the earnest exhortations or 
thrilling testimony of those redeemed men. 


A touching scene occurred in the afternoon. 
Major Cooke, of the Christian Army, walked up to Col. 
Clarke, kindred spirits in their love for the poor and 
zeal in the cause of the Redeemer, and, taking him by 
the hand, said: ‘I shall thank God, through all eter- 
nity, for the privilege of coming to this mission and 
laboring here; how often God has blessed me here!” 


The fountains of the great deep of the colonel’s heart . 


were broken up, and they mingled their tears together, 
while the same thrill of joy touched many hearts. 
From is heart and lips sprang forth the words ; 


“ Tf such the sweetness of the streafn, 
What will the fountains be, 
Where saints and angels draw their bliss 
Immediately from Thee?” 


Just a foretaste of those pleasures which are for 
evermore. It was a hallowed day; there was no 
decrease of interest, and we closed about ten o’clock, 
with an altar service, where many bowed as seekers. 

The following was written by Col. Clarke, to his 
wife, on his sixty-third birthday : 


‘“‘T’m sixty-three to-day, dear wife ; 
How quickly time has sped!. 
The larger part of childhood’s friends 





; 
~ of 


; < 
Pee 
— 


~ * - 


CHRISTIAN WORKERS TRANSLATED TO HEAVEN. 275 


Lie mouldering with the dead ; 
But since our paths of life were joined, 


A happy life I’ve led. 


“A truer wife than you have been, 
Since we were joined in one, 
Ne’er sat beneath the moon’s pale light, 
Or walked beneath the sun ; 
I well might say till then, dear wife, 
My life had not begun. 


‘‘We’ve worshiped, not in churches grand, 
Nor sat in cushioned pews ; 
But we have told to sinful men 
The gospel—blessed news!— 
And filled with holy oil, I trust, 
Some widow’s empty cruise. 


“And when the night of death comes on, 
Perhaps the white-winged dove 
May bear our souls together, dear, 
To live with Christ above ; 
To share together, with the saints, 
The treasures of His love.” 


Within a few months of each other, the two breth- 
ren—Charles Cooke and Col. Clarke—passed into the 
land of light and glory. Mrs. Clarke still labors on, in 
the Pacific Mission, wonderfully blessed and owned of 
God. 

FROM LABOR TO REWARD. 


Charles Wesley said ; ‘‘God buries his workmen, 
but carries on His work.” And so they fall. We fol- 
lowed to his silent resting-place in Graceland Cemetery 

the body of our first leader inthe Mission Band, 
Brother Charles Cooke, my husband’s brother. He 
fell asleep in Jesus, January 6, 1892 ; and now ~ 


‘He sees the Lamb in his own light, 
Whom here we dimly see!— 
We'll gaze, transported at the sight, 
Through all eternity.” 


O how he loved the Lord’s work, from the day of 






_ 276 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


his conversion! With the dew of youth upon him, he 
began to preach the gospel. Very much, in those early 
days, God’s power rested upon him! He was soon 
made a local preacher in the Wesleyan connection, and 
he would scarcely ever preach but some soul would be 
awakened or saved. In the early years of his ministry, 
the multitudes would be swayed, under his preaching, 
_as the forest by the wind. The great mistake of his 
life, as he would often tell us, was in not devoting all 
_ his life to God’s_ service. A large business, with its 
many perplexing cares, hindered in many ways. He 
so loved the work that after the hand of disease was 
laid upon him, and long after others, less devoted, 
would have yielded, his place would be filled in the 
mission or in the Salvation Army. The poor lost, in 
him, a tender friend ; his heart was ever touched by 
their wants, and his hand was ever opento relieve 
them. 


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CHAPTER XxX. 


_OPEN-AIR PREACHING. 

“To THE law and to the testimony.” “Teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have said unto 
you.” No surer is the apostolic succession the favorite 
theme of the Episcopal church, and baptism by immer- 
sion of the Baptist church, or the ever-blessed ministry of 
the Holy Ghost as taught by the Quakers, than that 
our Lord taught to all the preachers of His blessed 
gospel that they should be aggressive o’er the wide 
world “lying in the wicked one,” snatching them as ; 
brands from the burning, lifting up their voice like a 2 
trumpet, lifting it up and not being afraid, saying to 
the people: ‘‘ Behold your God!” : 


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as? 


Long before the Baptist’s voice was heard in the 
wilderness of Judea, wisdom cried without; she lifted — 
up her voice in the streets, she cried in the chief place 








~ DEGENERATION IN PREACHING. 207 


of concourse, calling to the simple, to the scorner, to 
the indifferent. And as the generations of men pass 
on it has been the same in every age. “Go ye,” said 
the Savior, “into the highways and hedges and compel 
them to come.” This is the grandest, fullest, noblest 
sermon that ever fell from human lips. It is the stand- 
ard for every child of man, was preached by Himself 
on a mountain in Galilee, and is a pattern for all times. 

Again and again the church, becoming worldly, 
neglects this God-ordained method of reaching the 
masses, when, from close communion with God, andstudy- 
ing the Holy Word, as in the case of Wesley and 
Whitfield, such laborers are thrust out in the vineyard 
and God’s work revives, and soon the mighty revival 
moves on through the length and breadth of the land. 
No church could hold the masses who hung on the 
words of these apostolic men. ‘‘Had I a thousand 
voices,” Whitfield would say, ‘they should all preach 
the everlasting gospel.” 

O how many Sauls to-day, high in stature, and 
with voices like Boanerges, are hid away among the 
“stuff,” when the needs of the people are calling out for 
this bread of life sent down from heaven. How can 
our preachers spend their time and strength in almost 
empty churches, while the multitudes outside are “ per- 
ishing for lack of knowledge.” 

How little our Lord cares fér our shibboleth of 
party! The important thing is not sects, nor creeds, 
which are useful in their places. There are many dif- 
ferent folds, but only one flock. We are all hastening, 
as fast as the wings of time can carry us, to our eternal 


home. How can we help others on the way? 


‘““ How can I rove from Him I love, 
Or from those blessed footsteps swerve, 
Which lead me to His seat above?” 


Our forefathers did not shrink from reproach. 
They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods for 
Jesus’ sake. 


278 _ WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


‘Shall I for fear of feeble man 
The Spirit’s course in me restrain? ~ 
Or, undismayed in deed or word, 
Be a true witness for my Lord? 


Yea, let men rage; since Thou wilt spread 
Thy shadowing wings around my head ; 
Since in all pain Thy tender love 
Shall still my sure refreshment prove.” 


Holding their street meetings, one afternoon, in 
the North Side of the city of Chicago, the whole band 
of the Salvation Army wasarrested. The news coming 
to the ears of the Mayor, he ordered their immediate 
release. The following letter of thanks was written to 
him : - 
Curicaco, Ill., May 4, 1888. 

To THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE OF Our City, Mayor 
RocHe: Dear Sir: I write to express the thanks 
wnich I believe are welling up from thousands of Chris- 
tian hearts in Chicago, for your so promptly stepping 
in and preventing the imprisonment of officers of the 
Salvation Army. Though not belonging to that branch 
of the Christian church, I know the great Head of the 
church (my Savior, and, I trust, yours) is greatly own- 
ing and blessing their work; their zeal and wonderful 
consecration bringing down, as it ever will do, His 
blessing and approval. They reach the lowest and the 
most degraded—those who are scarcely touched by 
our own churches. 

May I add that since your election as Mayor of our 
great city, you have been continually borne up to God 
in prayer, that your purposes may be strong to promote 
that righteousness which exalteth a people. O how 
our God will stand by and strengthen you, if true to 
Him; yours shall be the enjoyment of the wondrous 
blessing promised by the prophet Samuel: “The God 
of Israel said, he that ruleth over men must be just, 
ruling in the fear of God;”’ then the promise: “And he 
shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun ris- 
eth, even as a morning without clouds.” 1 Sam. 23:3, 4. 








- 


-A FAMOUS SCOTCH EVANGELIST. kD 


Such may your administration be, is my earnest prayer, 
and at last the ‘““Well-done, good and faithful servant, 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Yours most 


truly, in the service of the most high God, 


SaraH A. COOKE. 
ST. PATRICK AND IRELAND. 
“Strong convictions, like fire, ignite when brought 
in contact with proper material; this is why living 


-testimony has so much more influence on most people 


than reading books.” People whose hearts are moved 
can themselves move others. The poor ignorant boy 
who herded swine, after an awful struggle with sin and 
temptation, found Jesus, and got as near Him as he 
who leaned on His bosom, and moved all Ireland, then 
in heathen darkness, and founded a church as pure and 
true as the apostolic churches. No Roman Catholic 
was St. Patrick, whom Catholic Ireland almost deifies 
to-day. He had been brought as a captive to Ireland 
from Scotland; but after a time he was rescued. In 
Ireland he had found the Lord, and evermore, sleeping 
or waking, he had the desire to carry the gospel to this 
pagan land. He-says: “I would hear voices from the 
dark forest of Erin saying, ‘Come, holy child, and 
walk once more among us.’” Andsohe landed. He 
said: “God called me, and He overcame all difficulties.” 
Active, prompt, ingenious, he would gather the people 
together by beating a drum, andthen tell them, in their 
own language, the story of Jesus and the grand, glori- 
ous gospel—“the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth.” Like all teachers following close- 
ly the great Teacher, not systematic theology, but the 
simple presentation of the truth, with illustrations 
drawn from all the circumstances and surroundings of 
daily life, St. Patrick found’ his all and in all in God 
and His Christ. He preached like the very chiefest of 
the apostles, and the very same Holy Ghost power was 
with him. And Ireland, under his teaching, and his 
co-laborers’ work, awoke from paganism to Christianity. 
We have his hymn of consecration: “I bind myself to- 


-. ee "an Tre a ee —" Lt’  & 


a — 


280 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


day to the power of God to guide me, the 
might of God to uphold me, the wisdom of God 
to teach me, the eye of God to watch me, the 
ear of God to hear me, the Word of God. to 
give me speech, the hand of God to protect 


me, the way of God to prevent me, the shield of God ~ 


to shelter me, the hosts of God to defend me against 


the snares of the devil, and to Jesus Christ, my all and - 
in all.” When popery ruled Ireland, a fiat went out ~ 


that the Bible should be banished from the land; the 


dark shadow of ignorance and superstition settled on ~ 


its people, and it has never since been lifted. ~ 


PERSECUTION. 
O be true to God ! Persecution will follow, but the 
approval of God will a hundred times outweigh it all. 
See, see—on the plains of Dura a golden image has 
been reared by the proud king Nebuchadnezzar of 
Babylon; and he calls to it, at its dedication, all the 


great men of his kingdom. A herald has gone forth . 


summoning all the people to come and worship the 


golden image he has set up; but three of his officers re-- 


fuse to obey. Soon they are reported, and the haughty 
king has them brought into his presence; full of fury 
he tells them what their doom will be if they will not 
obey his commands, Talk of heroism! There they 


stand, and in the very face of death give this noble ~ 


answer: “Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will 


not serve thy god, nor worship the golden image which 


thou hast set up.” The furnace is heated seven times, 
the unresisting captives are bound and thrown in, the 
king in impotent rage watching. O what a God is our 
God! But the form of the fourth, the world’s Redeemer, 
was there, and the smell of fire was not upon them. 
Just such a man was John the Baptist among the 
countless multitudes who came to hear him. King 
Herod is convinced at once, by the holy unction in his 
words (God’s credentials to His own ambassadors), 
that here is a true prophet, and he does “many things 





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BRAMWELL’S COURSE WITH SINNERS. 281 


gladly because of him,” and is in a fair way of becom- 
ing a child of God; but he has one cherished idol, and 
John, with unsparing fidelity, reproves him. It is the 
turning point—eternal life or the pleasures of sin. The 
die is cast, and Herod clings to the idol. Every one 
has been brought up to just such a decision. You have 
seen just what it would cost to follow Jesus—you see it 
to-night. ‘Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand.” 
BRAMWELL DEALING WITH THE SINNER. 

I have been wonderfully helped and strength- 
ened by the words of Bramwell and his life of devotion 
to God; and believing that such lives area legacy to 
the church for all ages, and that no words I could write 
would touch these in their depth and fullness, I copy 
largely : 

“Come now,” was his constant cry, “all things are 
ready.’ Abandon all for Christ; ‘‘dissever yourself 
from everything incompatible or equivocal; enter on 
the life of prayer; cast your soul on the great aton- 
ing Sacrifice by resolute, adventurous faith; believe in 
spite of the multitude and aggregation of your sins, and 
of the benumbing influence of unbelief, and of every 
possible difficulty.” .He wouldseem to impel, excite and 
encourage a soul to that great act of ‘faith on the Son of 
God, which dissolves the union between a human soul 
and necessary perdition, instrumentally annuls the 
sentence of a violated law, and freely and fully justifies 
and accepts the returning sinner, and introduces him 
into all the rights and immunities of a denizen of 
heaven.” 

LETTERS OF WILLIAM BRAMWELL. 

My Dear BrotTHer: Youshould use every means 
to improve yourself in understanding, zeal and com- 
passion, so as to be moved to tears for a ruined world. 
Plead with God, with all your soul, for full salvation. 
I know you may have this; and let nothing hinder. 
Get all your nature molded in love. Lose self in God, 
and dwell there. In your preaching, discover by every 


282 ' WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


word and look the strongest affection for the congre- 
gation. I.et everything declare your earnest desire for 
their salvation. Show the greatest respect, “ honor all 
men,” and keep from everything harsh. Say strong 
things, but let their edge be smooth. This will make 
all men love you, ifthey do not love their sins; it will 
also preserve your influence with the people. Christ 
carries the lambs in His bosom; have the power to 
become all things to all men, and always look unto 
yourself to be their servant for Christ’s sake. Let all 
your example be holy. Be much with God, and your 
face will shine. Let all men see the newcreation. I 
not only want you to be a Christian, but I want you to 
receive the fullness of God. I am persuaded that much 
more prayer may be practiced and toa greater pur- 


pose ; in this I receive every day a greater portion of © 


good. I see, as in respect to myself, that I never stood 
in greater need of praying without ceasing. Your 
affectionate friend and brother, WILLIAM BRAMWELL. 


To Mrs. PeckrorD: He justifies, He purifies him 
that stays the mind on Him, but He gathers us nearer 
and still nearer till we feel that we live in the presence 
of God every moment. This is our place, and this is 
heaven upon earth. Whether poor or rich, in com- 
pany or without, the Lord is everything to us, and 
every place is filled with Himself. You will be ready 
to meet every change by constant watching and prayer, 
and by keeping a lively faith in God. Never expect 
your heavenly Father to keep His covenant, only on 
the ground of your act of faith. This faith must be 
like the pendulum of a clock ; it must be kept moving, 
to keep the soul in motion. And as your faith 
increases, you will more quickly mount up, run faster, 
labor more, love more, rejoice more. 

O praise Him for ever and ever! I congratulate 
you, I rejoice with you, I triumph in union with you ; 
I never had more pleasant walks in the heavenly coun- 
try ; I see the company and I live among it, for we are 
come to the innumerable company of angels, to the 








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- 


LENDING THE LORD AN OVERCOAT. 283 


Spirits of just men made perfect. The manner.is inex- 
pressible, but the thing is certain. Faith is the evi- 
dence. Farewell! The everlasting God be with you 
always! WiviiaM BRAMWELL. 





“A LETTER TO THE “ FIRE AND HAMMER.” 
“7 was in prison, and ye came unto me.” 

It is said that a Russian soldier was once on duty ; 
the cold was most intense ; a farmer, on his way home, 
noticed that he had onno cloak, and, taking off his 
own (for he was near his home,) offered it to the sen- 
tinel, saying: ‘‘Take my cloak ; you would perish to- 
night without one.” Time passed on and the giver lay 
on a bed of sickness, and there before him stood the 
Savior with the very overcoat on he had given. “Why, 
Lord,” said the astonished man, “you have on my 
overcoat.” ‘Did you not give it Me that night I was 
on duty?” said the Redeemer. How few of us take 
on the reality of the words of Jesus— Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto the least of these ye have done it 
unto Me.” Religion pure and undefiled before God 
and the Father is love embodied and separation from 
the world—wnot creeds /—not notions! They sit in Moses’ 
seat, they preach the law ; they bind heavy burdens to 
be borne on others, but lift them not themselves. 
Come and look into the gospel mirror; see our great 
High Priest making Himself of no reputation—‘taking 
upon Himself the form of a servant :” 


‘““Cold mountains and the midnight air 
Witnessed the fervor of His prayer ; 
The desert His temptations knew, 
His conflict, and His victory, too.” 


He touched the leper, and shrank not from the 
tears of the fallen one who washed His feet and dried 
them with the hairs of her head. ‘I have left you an 
example that ye should walk in my steps.” Gentle- 
men of leisure are most of our preachers. Their lives 
are all unlike their divine Lord and Master. O how 


284. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


little He cares for the particular shibboleth of our 
party. Are we individually true to Him, walking in 
all the light of God as it falls on our path? 


Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, preached 
truth as clearly and definitely as does Catherine Booth, 
of the Salvation Army, and the same results followed 
everywhere. Theleaders, Holy-Ghost-baptized men and 
women, labored. Banished from Constantinople, God 
is with him, and souls, wherever his feet tread, are 
led to the Lamb of God. O be not deceived, beloved : 


for “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the ~ 


world,” is to His own disciples of every name a surety 
now. 

Madam Guyon, in the very bosom of the Roman 
Catholic Church, breathes her ceaseless longings for im- 
mortal souls in the fervent ‘‘ give me souls, or I die;” and 
revivals deep and pure follow her labors everywhere! 
They saw, like the Apostle John, that the whole world 
lieth in the jaws of the wicked one, and God was with 
them to save multitudes froma burning hell. Paul 


could call the elders of Miletus to witness that forthree ~ 


years he ceased not to warn men night and day with 
tears ; and these signs shall follow those that believe: 
In My name _ shall they cast out devils. 
—in My name shall they do many mighty works. 
GLoRY TO OUR Gop!-—-the promise holds as true to-day 
as eighteen hundred years ago. And he that reapeth 
receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto everlasting 
life. Go on, brother; the Lord has made thee a sharp 
threshing instrument with teeth ; bring down the flail 
on hypocrisy and sinall around, and gather all the 
precious grain you can inte the garner of the Lord. O 
how I love the Lord’s work, and how preciously near 
He often draws while in His service! At sixty-four 
years of age I feel as strong to labor for Him as ever I 
did. O how He does renew my strength, and I 
mount up on wings as the eagle, and run and am not 
weary, and waik and do not faint. To Him be all the 
glory! I dwell in the land of doxologies: 





Oe Bon 


ne 


_ PIETY SHOULD REMOVE PRIDE IN DRESS. 285 


“The land of corn and wine and oil, 
Favored with God’s peculiar smile, 
With every blessing blest; 
Here dwells the Lord our righteousness, 
And keeps His own in perfect peace, 
And everlasting rest.” ~ 


In the love of Jesus, 
( 1892.) SARAH A. COOKE. 
BEHAVIOR AND ATTIRE. 

“Ve are My witnesses, saith the Lord.’—Isaiah 
43: 10. 

‘Every Christian makes an impression by his con- 
duct, and witnesses either for one side or the other. 
His looks, dress, whole demeanor, make a constant im- 


‘pression on one side or the other. He cannot help tes- 


tifying for or against religion. He is either gathering 
with Christ, or scattering abroad. Every step you take, 
you tread on chords that will vibrate to all eternity. 
Every time you move, you touch keys whose sound will 
re-echo over all the hills and dales of heaven, through 
all the dark caverns and vaults of hell. Every moment 
of your lives you are exerting an influence that will tell 
on the immortal interests of souls around you. Are 
you asleep while all your conduct is exerting such an in- 
fluence? Are you going to walk in the street? Take 
care how you dress. What is that on your head? What 
do that gaudy ribbon and those ornaments upon your 
dress say to every one that meets you? It makes the 
impression that you wish to be thought pretty. Take 
care! You might just as well write on your clothes: 


‘THERE IS NO TRUTH IN RELIGION.’ It says: ‘Give ME 


DRESS, GIVE ME FASHION, GIVE ME FLATTERY, AND I AM 
HAPPY. The world understands this testimony as you 
walk the streets. You are living epistles, known and 
read of all men. If you show pride, levity, bad temper, 
and the like, it is like tearing open the wounds of the 
Savior. How Christ might weep to see professors of 
religion going about hanging up his cause to contempt 
at the corners of the streets! Only ‘let the women adorn 


286 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, 


themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacédness 


and sobriety, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, 


or costly array, but (which becometh women professing 
godliness) with good works;’ only let them act con- 
sistently, and their conduct will tell on the world, 
heaven will rejoice, and hell groan at their influence. 
“But O let them display vanity, try to be pretty, 
bow down to the goddess of fashion, fill their ears with 
ornaments and their fingers with rings. Let them put 
feathers in their hats and clasps upon their arms—lace 


themselves up till they can hardly breathe, and their 


influence is reversed. Heaven puts on the robes of 
mourning, and hell may hold a jubilee. Your spirit 


and deportment produce an influence on the world ~ 


against religion. How shall the world believe religion, 
when the witnesses are not agreed among themselves, 
and the sum of the whole testimony is: ‘There is no 
need of being pious?’ Oh, how guilty! Perhaps hun- 
dreds of souls will meet you in the Judgment, and curse 
you (if they are allowed to speak), for leading them to 
hell by practically denying the truth of the’ gospel." — 

CHARLES G. FINNEY. 


THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGTON. 


Before me lies the testimony of one who suffered 
and denied herself much for Jesus’ sake, the Countess 
of Huntington. Standing among the highest aristoc- 
racy of the land, she laid aside all of state and splendor 
to advance the cause of the Redeemer and follow closely 
her Savior’s steps. A tradesman, who had been taken 
by a friend to see the countess, said how ashamed he 
felt when he saw her simple home, and thought of his 
own, which was so different—she a countess of the 
realm, he only a tradesman. She reaped the hundred- 
fold of blessing for every sacrifice. Hear her words: 


“My whole heart has not a single grain this moment of 


thirst after approbation. I feel alone with God; He 
fills the whole void. I have stood amazed, and won- 





s 


- 


CONVERSION OF GEORGE COOKE. -287 


dered that God should make a conquest of all within 
me by love.” 
CONVERSION OF MY BROTHER-IN-LAW. 

One night, returning late from a mission, I founda 
note on my table from my brother-in-law, George 
Cooke, and the sister I was rooming with said the mes- 
senger told her that Mr. Cooke wanted to see me, if I 
could possibly go, that night. It was late—about 10:30 
—when I reached home; but the next day found me 
there, wondering what he could want to see me for, for 
I knew that my presence troubled him. I little thought 
how God was working on his heart. For some two or 
three years I had not seenhim. The tale was soon 
told. Hewas all broken in heart, seeing himself on 
the road to eternal death. We bowed together in 
prayer, and I tried to point him to the Lamb of God; 
but deliverance did not come then. The next day, how- 
ever, on a street-car, the Lord revealed Himself to him 
as a Savior mighty to save. But I will let him tell of 
the wondrous change himself, as it may help others: 

“T was born in Denton, a small and quiet village in 
Northamptonshire, England; one of a family of seven. 
About the only religious instruction I received while 
living there was at the parish church. When about 
twenty years of age I removed to Northampton, where 
I was brought in contact with the Wesleyan Method- 
ists. Iwas powerfully convicted by the Holy Spirit, 
and my manner of living was greatly changed. I asso- 
ciated with and loved the people of God, and joined 
the Wesleyan Methodist church on probation; but my 
good impressions proved to be ‘as the morning cloud or 
the early dew, which. soon passeth away.’. The good 
seed sown in my heart became choked by the cares of 
the world and the pressure of business; gradually I lost 
all interest in spiritual things. How literally the words 
of God were fulfilled: ‘Know ye that it is an evil and 
bitter thing, to depart from the living God.’ 

“For sixty years I wandered in the wilderness; 
‘seeking rest and finding none.’ I sought it in various 


288 : WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


kinds of amusements and folly of every description; 
but they all proved to be ‘broken cisterns, holding no 
water.’ My life was one of great inward wretchedness. 
I was ‘like the troubled sea, casting up mire and dirt,’ 
but never at rest, and during the last twenty years of 
my life I never knew what inward peace or quiet was, 
unless filled with an intoxicant. I could not get more 
than an hour’s sleep at one time without an opiate. 
Then I realized the truth of these words: ‘There is no 
rest or peace for the wicked.’ 

“How the fear of death and the Judgment over- 
came me! I do not recollect when the Spirit of the 
Lord did not strive with me; but I said, with one of 
old, ‘Go Thy way for this time; when I have a conven- 
ient season I will call for Thee.’ I kept as far from 
Christian people as I could, for they only caused me 
trouble. 

“I never saw a funeral procession, or an under- 
taker’s establishment, but it would so upset me that I 
had to quiet my nerves with an opiate. I had to be 
watched day and night, for fear that I would take my 
life. I can say with the Psalmist of old : ‘The sorrows 
of death compassed me, the pangs of hell got hold of 
me; I found trouble and sorrow.’ : 

“T had literally a hell on earth. The fire-place or 
stove in the house had to be covered to prevent my 
seeing the fire; I had a living fire within me. As soon 
as the shades of evening came upon the earth, the per- 
spiration would roll off of me, and for weeks I dared 
not go alone upstairs at night. Realizing my lost and 
helpless condition, I began to call upon the Lord; then 
was fulfilled this promise: ‘As soon as ye seek me with 
your whole heart, I will be found of you.’ About that 
time I was greatly affected by the death of my dear 
brother Charles, a devoted servant of the Lord, and 
one on whom I had leaned heavily for comfort; he had 
gone to meet the dear Savior to whose service he had 
so faithfully given his life. 

“Truly it seemed the very pangs of hell had taken 








bathe 2D 


Esc aas 


(see Pages 58, 165, 213, 297.) 








MRS. J S, SKINNER 


GEORGE COOKE’S JOYFUL DELIYERANCE. 289 


hold of me; sleepless nights and days of distress and 
sorrow, unless under the influence of opiates. I never 
felt safe to be left for one moment without the presence 
of my dear faithful wife (my only comforter at that 
time). Then began I to call to the Lord for relief. A 
deep contrition had come into my heart—the dawning 
of hope had come. One day 
gotten—in a street-car, the Lord revealed Himself to 
me. Deliverancehadcome! The Spirit spoke to me, 
‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou 
disquieted. within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall 
yet praise Him. He is the health of my countenance 
and my God.’ I said, ‘I will, Lord,’ and heaven came 
into my soul. What a transformation! The car I was 
in seemed to be the most beautiful palace I had ever be- 
held; and as soonas I reached home, I told my wife 
what great things the Lord had done for me. From 
that hour I did not need any watching. I knew, and 
allwith whom I came in contact knew, that I was ‘a 
new creature in Christ Jesus;’ God my Father and 
heaven my home. From that time to this, I have been 
telling to all around what a blessed Savior I have 
found. My lot is cast with the Free Methodists, but in 
all the missions, churches, and Salvation Army, wher- 
ever I have an opportunity, I never fail to tell what I 
know of this wonderful Savior and His power on enh 
to forgive sins. 


‘Although afflicted with locomotor ataxia, and un- 
able to go about without an attendant, I manage to 
spend three or four nights each week in the Master’s 
service, telling to perishing men and women Christ’s 
wonderful power to save and keep. My joy in the 

dark watches of the night is often unspeakable and full 
- ofglory. I find the more I do for the Lord, the greater | 
my spiritual joy. ‘Lo, 1am with you always,’ nerves 
my soul to go forward in His work. How truly I can 
Say : 





‘The love of Christ doth me constrain 
To seek the wandering souls of men, 


290 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


With cries, entreaties, tears, to save, 
To snatch them from a gaping grave.’ 


“Some three years have passed since that won- 
drous change to the new birth; life since then has not 
been without its trials. The dear companion of my 
life has been taken, but the great void has been filled 
with the presence of my Lord, and I can say with the 
patriarch of old, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.’” © 


THE ROYAL WOMAN AND WIFE. 


I have been much impressed to-day, while reading 
the last chapter of Proverbs. Whata description of 
woman—what a perfect portrait, drawn by the pen of 
inspiration, for all time, until the last of Eve’s daugh- 
ters fill the place, the sacred place of wife and mother! 
“The virtuous woman’s price is far above rubies ;” the 
help and never-failing source of comfort to her husband; 
in difficulty, in trial, ‘‘ his heart doth safely trust in her.” 
All the days of his life she will do him good and not 
evil. Then her industry and forethought. She is an 
early riser, up before day-break in the morning; she 
knows how important the early hours of the morning 
are. She hasso much to do that the devil gets no 
foothold in that life; as my mother would teach us, 
“Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” 
She has no time for idleness; her own home duties 
attended to, her large heart and her hands are extended 
to the poor; she stretches them out to the needy. 
“She cares for all the wants of her household.” 
“Strength and honor are her clothing ;” and then her 
conversation : ‘She openeth her mouth with wisdom, 
and on her lips are the laws of kindness.” No wonder 
the great climax: ‘Her children rise up to call her 
blessed ; her husband also praiseth her.” O here is 
sterling worth. 

Some will say : “She” (this Bible woman) “had 
openings for her talents, scope for her ai that 








VANITY OF HUMAN GREATNESS. 291 


comparatively few have.” Truly every woman may 
not be able to launch out, “bringing her food from 
afar,” or “ planting the vineyard with the fruit of her 
hands ;” but the same grand characteristics of energy, 
industry, self denial, unselfishness, and love, will in a 
narrower field bring just the same glorious reward and 
results. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


“THE heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament showeth His handiwork.” All nature is vocal 
with the voice of God. The lark, as it soars, has a 
jubilant song of praise. ‘All Thy works praise Thee, 
and the saints bless Thee. They show forth the excel- 
lency of Thy name and speak of Thy marvelous works.” 
In no country, in no place, has God left himself with- 
out witnesses. There is no human heart but hath heard 
that voice. ‘ Every day,” said a backslider, ‘while I 
was'away from God, I could hear my mother’s voice 
entreating me to give my heart to Him.” And ever, 
across the path of every human being, there comes- the 
voice of warning ; shadowing, sometimes, just the fore- 
boding of a fear, a dread of something in that vast 
future that lies beyond. The funeral procession, the 
news of another soul passing to “that bourne from 
which no traveler returns,” is God’s warning. And 
then come the testimonies of those who have filled the 
most coveted places on earth--the great in intellect, 
the high in position—that naught on earth can fill the 
soul’s great need but God. Wise Solomon, looking over 
all his riches, his great “‘World’s Fair” of precious 
things gathered from every land, pronounced it to be 
“all vanity.” -This confession was echoed again, after 
the lapse of nearly three thousand years, by weary mul- 
titudes last summer; and all down the ages of time 
God is calling by these things the weary and the heavy 





292 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


laden to seek Himself—the source, the fountain of all 
happiness. That word is often stilled by the rush of 
earthly ambition, but it returns again and again. 


CHILDREN RIGHTLY TRAINED. 


‘Children, obey your parents,” is one of the com- 
mandments given from Mount Sinai. Mrs. L. Sher- 
man, of St. Louis, a mother well-known, gave her testi- 
mony in acamp-meeting about the training of her 
children. She said: ‘Just as contrary to God's 
revealed will is disobedience to parents as any other 
sin; but no child will ever grow up in obedience, 
except as trained to it by the parent. When one of 
my little girls was only six months old I conquered her. 
She was determined one day that I should lay down 
on the bed with her. She grew red in the face and 
very angry; I patted her, but she was determined: 
then I took a little switch and touched her till she felt 
it and yielded. Never after did I have much trouble. 
She was converted at five. When naughty, I would talk 
to her of God, of hell, of heaven, and would ask her 
what I should do? She would say; ‘Punish me, 
mamma ;” and would always finish by asking me to 
forgive her. Her sister Anna was four anda half 
years old when she was converted. We had been liv-_ 
ing in the country, and I feared to bring my children 
into St. Louis; I knew the influence of a large city 
was bad for children. As I looked up to the Lord, He 
said to me: “I will nourish your little ones.” We had 
educated them at home, but the time came when I 
thought it would be good for my eldest daughter, 
Susie, to go to school, and I laid it before the Lord. 
No advantages could compensate for her losing her 
spirituality ; again the Lord spoke to me, telling me 
‘“He was able to keep that which I had committed into 
His hands.” The Lord’s watchful care was over her. 
During the noon-recess she would take her little Testa- 


ment and go alone, telling me she could not listen - - 


to the frivolous talk of the girls without losing spirit- 


HAD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE. 293 


uality. Co-worker this mother has been with the Lord, 
reaping the blessed harvest in seeing every one of her 
children in very early life brought to the Savior. 


If you want to know the character of the men 
whose names are had in everlasting remembrance, turn 
over the pages of God’s Word, and listen to His teach- 
ings to the people of Israel. They were to “teach 
their children the laws and statutes of the Lord dili- 
gently, morning, noon and night,” writing on the door- 
posts, on the gates, as frontlets between the eyes, and 
on their garments, the Word of God. O what are all 
the sciences, all the philosophies taught in the schools, 
tothis? ‘ What isthe chaff tothe wheat?” How igno- 
rant of God’s Word are many of the mothers of our land. 
Engrossed in everything else, your precious children 
are growing up ignorant of the God who made them. 
When Samuel was given to Hannah, a little while, 
through the years of helpless infancy, she kept him 
pure and innocent, to bring him before her God; then 
he was laid on the altar, to be His forever. O woman, 
great is thy faith—the hundred-fold of blessing thine ; 
throughout all ages thou shalt be called blessed. We 
look at Abraham, “the father of the faithful, and the 
friend of God!” In the solitude he hears the voice of 
God : ‘‘Come ye out from your country, and kindred, 
and your father’s house ;’ and he obeys. He com- 
munes with God ; all nature has a voice and speaks to 
-him of his Creator; he walks, he talks with God. 
Enoch walked with God, and Jude could find no more 
impressive words to tell of the coming Judgment than 
those handed down from Enoch, who tells of the final 
‘scene when Jesus shall come with ten thousand of his 
saints. Then Moses comes on the scene, the child 
cradled by faith on the bosom of the Nile, and the 
great leader of Israel, with the early training of a godly 

mother, which was never to be erased. Forty years 
were passed in the desert, training in pastoral scenes 
for the leading forth of three millions of people from 
the land of bondage to the borders of the promised 


294 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


land—the man with whom God talked face to face, as 
a friend with a friend ; talking, also, with our blessed 
Redeemer concerning “his decease, which He should 
accomplish at Jerusalem ;” and yet again, in the Rev- 
elation, John saw the great beyond, where time shall be 
no more, and where the glorified shall sing the song of 
Moses and the Lamb, “in everlasting remembrance.” 
What was their aimin life? Position, fame, the glory of 
this world? No, you cannot find an ambition of that 
kind in all their lives ; their one thought was to serve 
God. Hear, hear the regal David: “I have set the 
Lord always before me.” What plaintive cries when 
the face of that divine presence and glory was with- 
drawn ; what jubilant joy when he again walked in the 


sunshine of God’s love. What unutterable longings to _ 


make known “ His ways upon earth, His saving health 
among all people.” God took this man from feeding 
sheep to fill the throne of Israel and shepherd His 
chosen people. Said one of our great preachers: “My 
learning isin my way.” O yes—leading from that 
simple dependence on God which Paul so prayed for, 
“not the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness 
with God.” Elijah, man of the desert, with coarse 
garments of camel’s hair, but having a deep commun- 
ion with God, so true in all that wondrous life that he 
was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. Such are 
God’s noblemen, who have lived for Him and to 
advance His cause. . 
GOD’S PREACHERS. 


Every preacher ought to realize, as he preaches, 


that heaven above isthe abode of every pure and holy 
spirit, with joys exceeding and eternal; that hell is 
beneath, and that every sinner is posting, as swiftly as 
the wings of time can carry him, to that lake of fire ; 
and that he, the preacher, is sent to arrest and turn him 
in his course. And has not every God-sent preacher 
the very commission that Paul had—“to open their 
eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God.” It is what we feel 





~ 


A BISHOP’S EXPERIENCE—A WISE MOTHER. 295 


deeply that moves souls. Like an actor, a preacher 
must put on a semblance of deep feeling, but it would 
not be the holy unction from God, and unless his life 
is consistent, in the pulpit and out of it, he is compar- 
atively useless. He must bein touch with the Lord in 
whole-hearted devotion to Him and His service. 
Read the lives of those who in their time have moved 
the world. Here is asummary of one—Bishop As- 
bury : 

“Close communion with God, holy fellowship 
with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ ; a will 
resigned ; frequent addresses to the throne of grace ;a 
constant and serious care for the prosperity of Zion ; 
forethought in the arrangement of the preachers; a 
soul drawn out in ardent prayer for the universal 
church, and the complete triumph of Christ over all 
the earth.” Traveling 5,000 miles a year on horseback, 
ata salary of eighty dollars a year; preaching in all 
places: his best covering from the rain often buta 
blanket ; his fasts voluntary and involuntary ; his best 
fare coarse for six months of the twelve; dependency 
on the care of strangers ; the care of more than 1,000 
souls, and the assignment of about 400 preachers—a 
laborer indeed! 


“Wy PEOPLE PERISH FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE,” 


were the words of the most high God many cent- 
uries ago, and it is as true to-day asthen. “The fear 
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” O how the 


‘children in many homes are perishing for lack of 


knowledge! Taught so much that profits them nothing; 
for there is no fear of God, no teaching of His holy 
Word, mingled with the teachings of home or at school; 
and it is no wonder that lawlessness and ungodliness 
reign. A woman whose husband was an infidel had 


trained her children so wisely that every one became a 


Christian; every one had put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
their mother’s God, their God. A preacher, filled with 
wonder at such blessed results, with an influence so 


= ae “ sou Pid Meee 
296 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


strong against her, asked her how it could be; and she ‘ 
said: “I never set my opinions in opposition to those of 
their father’s, but I always referred them to God, and 
what He had said in His Word.” Wise mother, just 
walking in God’s way, and reaping the glorious re- 
sults. While holding meeting some years ago in Val- 
paraiso, Indiana, a mother gave this testimony: “I was 
left with five children. My oldest boy became very 
wicked, and I could do nothing with him; he would lie 
and steal, and I began to think that I would have to 
put him in the reformatory school. One night I 
dreamed that a voice came to me telling me to read 
the Bible with my children. I was brought up a Roman 
Catholic, and had never read the Bible, though I hada 
beautiful one for an ornament on the parlor-table. I 
began to read it, and O what a difference it made in 
our home. The children would gather around me as 
gentle as kittens, and my eldest boy, two or three days 
after | commenced, broke all down, and, putting his 
arms around my neck, promised he would be a good 
boy; and I am saved!” O howtruly “the entrance of Thy 
Word giveth light!” What abook—every page bear- 
ing the seal of divinity! Well might President Adams 
say: “A man might spend his whole life in studying it, 
and then would not possess all it could teach.” ‘In it 
are shallows a lamb can ford, or depths a whale can 
swim in.” Adapted toevery mind, to every clime, to 
every position in life> Phoebe Palmer, of blessed 
memory, would say: “If Ishould be brought into the 
most trying position any human had ever been in, 1 . 
should find in the Bible all-sufficient guidance and 
light.” 
HESITATING AND FAILING. 

“Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.” How 
many since the days of David have uttered these 
words! O beloved, when God hides His face there is 
some reason for it. One such instance comes very 
vividly to my remembrance now. I had gone toa 
camp-meeting at Lake Bluff, and in the first holiness 


THE GRACE OF TESTIMONY. 297 


meeting, led by Brother Taylor, now in Africa, many 
were the testimonies given to the possession of this 
blessing by those all bedecked in the trappings of this 
world’s fashion. Almost every testimony would end 
with a sad wind-up of a lack of power, and a request 
for prayer. The Spirit prompted me to get up and tell 
the crucifying way by which I obtained this blessing. 
Nature reasoned: ‘‘They would not receive it.” I 
hesitated, and again the Spirit prompted, and°at the 
last moment I arose to my feet, when the leader said: 
“We will now change the order of the meeting.” How 
glad I felt to sit down without giving my testimony. 
I had missed the cross, but on leaving the tent came 
the sense of awful loss. The Spirit, my constant guide 
and Comforter, had left me; and all that evening I 
wandered, seeking peace and findingnone. It seemed 
as though my God, in the sunshine of whose love I had 
walked, had withdrawn a thousand miles from me. 
Sleep fled; and what a dreary, restless night I passed. 
About three o’clock in the morning I arose, dressed 
myself and went out under the clear sky. Everything 
was so calm, so beautiful; the moon just about at full. 
In a moment the words were spoken: ‘God is love,” 
with the sweet consciousness of His forgiveness. “I 
will obey Thee, Lord,” was the cry of my heart, as it 
melted like wax before the fire. The next day there 
was another holiness meeting, and as soon as the leader 
took his seat, I fulfilled my vow; told of the entire 
separation from the world the Lord had called me to. 
The Spirit indorsed the Word, and all through the tent 
there went up shouts of “Glory!” 


EFFICIENT PREACHING. 


Dr. Adam Clarke, in speaking on these words, 
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching 
one another,” says: “The Word of Christ means the 
doctrine of Christ crucified, purchasing salvation for 
men, breaking the power of sin, pardoning the guilt, 
and purging the soul from the pollution of sin. The 


298 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


present state of Christianity is not creditable to 
its Author; men are industrious to find out with how 
little holiness they can get to heaven; of the riches of 
God’s grace they know little, and of the riches of His 
indwelling Spirit they know nothing. Most professors 
are in a state of extreme spiritual poverty. The only 
preaching worth anything, in God’s account, and which 
the fire will not burn up, is that which labors to convict 
the sinner of his sin, to bring him into contrition for it, 
and convert him from it; to lead him to the blood of 
the covenant, that his conscience may be purged from 
its guilt; to the spirit of judgment and burning, that he 
may be purified from its infection; and then to build 
him up on this most holy faith, by causing him to pray 
in the Holy Ghost, and keep himself in the love of 
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 
unto eternal life. This is the system pursued by the 
apostles, and it is that alone which God will own to 
the conversion of sinners. I speak from the experience 
of nearly fifty years in the public ministry of the Word; 
this is the most likely mode to produce the active soul 
of divinity, while the body is little else than the preach- 
er’s creed.” 
TESTIMONIES IN FAVOR OF THE BIBLE. 

Said Sir Walter Scott: ‘The most learned, acute 
and diligent student cannot in the longest life obtain 
an entire knowledge of this one volume. The more 
deeply he works this mine, the richer and more abund- 
ant he finds the ore.’”’ When near death, and his son- 
in-law asked what book he should read to him, he 
answered: ‘There is but one book—the Bible.” 

John Adams, second President of the United 
States, in writing to Thomas Jefferson, the third Presi- 
dent, said: ‘‘The Bible is the best book in the world; it 
contains more of philosophy than all the libraries I 
have ever seen.” 

Said Edmund Burke: “I have read the Bible morn- 
ing and noon, and have ever since been a happier and 
a better man.’ : 





UNBELIEF DESTROYS HOLINESS. ~~ 299 


Said Sir William Jones the great Oriental scholar: 
“The holy Scriptures contain more exquisite beauty, 
more true sublimity, more pure nobility, more im- 
- portant history, and more strains, both of poetry and 
eloquence, than could be collected from all other 
books.” 

To our knowledge of God, not one important item 
has been added, outside the lids of the holy Bible. 

“Watch.—An earnest, constant, persevering exer- 
cise, implying steadfast faith, patient hope, laboring 
love, increasing prayer.”—JOHN WESLEY. 

“Be instant in season, and out of season. Urge 
these things continually at all times and in all places. 
It might be translated, with and without opportunity 
(making opportunities ).”—JoHun WESLEY. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


I HAVE been reading in the life of Mrs. Fletcher. 
She says: “ But the heaviest ofall my yokes was the 
galling yoke of unbelief. I remember the time when I 
could say, ‘Unbelief has not a place in my soul to set 
its foot upon ;’ but now I have slipped back from that 
constant act of faith, and I have admitted cares and 
fears, and by insensible degrees I have sunk back again 
into my own will and the strivings of evil tempers ; in- 
deed, there was.a degree of union with God which I 
never entirely lost, neither did His fear depart out of 
my heart ; yet I have inwardly departed from the pure 
love which I possessed. I had left off ‘to delight my- 
self in God’ as heretofore, and accepted of many other 
things in His place, so that my trials were greater than 
I can describe.” I transcribe this as an incentive to 
great watchfulness. May my lamp ever be trimmed 
and burning, as one who looketh for the appearing of 
the ord. 

Mrs Fletcher, writing on ‘‘ Love,” says: “To re- 


300 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. ~ 


peat the faults of an absent person hardens our own 
hearts, and increases that love of self that so predom- 
inates in every man by nature, and shuts out those rays 


of divine love which only reflect on the peaceful, loving 


heart. But the heart that is fully renewed in love feels, 





as one of the first marks of that change, such anabhor- — 


rence to the exposing of another’s reputation, that it is 
like fire on his flesh when he hears it incompany. The 
renewed soul has such a sense of the snares, dangers 
and deceits which surround the unchanged heart, that 
he only wonders that it is no worse, and is not surprised 
that the evil words have been spoken ; thus ‘it beareth 


all things,’ and passes through evil and good report, ~ 


not provoked to speak one word or do one action to the 
hurt of his neighbor.” ; 

‘Rise early. By the observance of this useful 
piece of self-denial you will be enabled, as it were, to 
set out in the immediate presence of God, and prepare 
the mind for every cross you may have to take up dur- 
ing the day.” 

FROM MY JOURNAL. 


““O that my Lord would count me meet 
To wash His dear disciples’ feet.” 


More grace; tender, gentle, patient love—my 
great need. 

Jan. 12, 1894.—A genuine revival has already com- 
menced in our church. Sister Annie Grant is with us. 

Jan. 31. Itseems impossible to get hold of the 


outsiders. A blessed work is being done among the ~ 


children of our Sabbath-school, about twelve having 
professed conversion, and one stranger came back to 
God. Now the meeting has closed. 

Miss Brennerman, daughter of a Mennonite 


preacher, has been staying with me for nearly a month. 


What an illustration of God’s Word: “Know ye not 
that it is a bitter and evil thing to depart from the liv- 
ing God.” Converted when quite young, and as happy 
as every new-born soul is in the Lord. Then the soul 


NOTES AND INCIDENTS FROM MY JOURNAL. 301 


got entangled again with the world, and engrossed in 
its broken cisterns that could hold no water, until sad- 
ness like a pall settled over her, and loss of health soon 
followed In the Pentecost meetings at Crawford the 
great depths-of her heart were broken, and again the 
Sun of Righteousness, with healing beneath his wings, 
has risen upon her. She left to obtain a situation a few 
days ago, and writes with a heart full of joy, all her 
anxiety gone ; joy and victory through the blood of the 
Lamb! 

Feb. 27.—These words came this morning with 
great sweetness: ‘Great peace have they which love 
Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” I brought 
home from the Olive Branch Mission a young woman, 
and find she is in great perplexities and difficulties. 
Have offered her a home here for the present. Make 
it a blessing to both, gracious Savior. Give me the 
all-sufficient grace to meet every need. 

Mar. 14.—Find a blessed opening in visiting at the 
County Hospital. Ireceived, in answer to prayer, a 
pass, so that I can go in at any time. I found yester- 
day a man whotold me he had been trained in his 
youth for a Catholic priest. No wonder that without 
any change of heart he had grown weary of it, and 
turned to skepticism. He had been listening to Inger- 
soll, and was all bewildered. O my Savior, help me in 
every visit. “Except Thy presence goeth with me, 
carry me not up hence.” 

Mar. 23—A great man (Count Zinzendorf) ob- 
served: “There are three different ways in which it 
pleases God to lead His people. Some are guided in - 


-almost every instance by opposite texts of Scripture. 
Others see a clear and plain reason for everything they 


are to do. And yet others are led not by Scripture or 
reason, so much as by particular impressions.” John 
Wesley says: “I am very rarely led by impressions, but 
generally by reason and by Scripture.” The Lord - 
almost always gives me light by the powerful applica- 
tion of some passage of Scripture, 


302 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


OUR COVENANT-KEEPING GOD. 


“T will declare,” said one of old, “the loving kind- 
ness of the Lord.” 

A few weeks ago, coming home from a busy day’s 
work, at these times to enjoy the quiet hush, 


‘When the night is filled with music, 
And the cares that infest the day 

Fold up their tents like the Arabs 
And as silently steal away.” 


This night I sat long reading the life of John Owen, 
tracing the wonderful way in which God had led him 
to such a deep knowledge of Himself. The room be- 
came chilly, and I drew the table nearer to the stove 
(it was a paneled dining-table), and in doing so, it di- 
vided some inches apart. Having occasion to go into 
another room, I returned, not observing (a cloth cover- 
ing the table) the division, and let the lamp down, 
when in a moment it was overturned and the floor 
ablaze with the oil. I looked at it, spell-bound. What 
could I do? He who “numbereth the hairs of our head, 
and without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground,” 
was there, bringing back to memory the promise given 
more than twenty years ago, after our great fire in Chi- 
cago, that I should never be burned out again. This 
brought back perfect calmness. I turned on the water, 
and with the help of a large hearth-rug the flames were 
soon extinguished. Then came again another message: 


“Tt is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not all con- — 


sumed.” Four families in that house, in slumber, all 
unconscious of the danger so near! O the never-to- 
be-forgotten thankfulness of that hour! I adored and 
worshiped God. 

I came to Cleveland. a week ago, on the invita: 
tion of Bro. S. B. Shaw and the pastor of the church, 
Bro. Goodrich. Bro. Shaw is publishing a book, “Re- 
markable Incidents and Answers to Prayer.” It will 
be very helpful to the faith of God’s people and to the 
conviction of the unsaved, if they will only read it. 





oo 


A SICK WOMAN HEALED BY FAITH. 303 


But O the blindness upon them! The World’s Fair at 
Chicago has more attraction than all the glories of 
heaven; more stirs them than all the terrors that await 
them where “the wrath of God abideth forever.”” Would 
not. Paul have felt to-day, if in Chicago, as he felt in 
Athens, when his soul was stirred within him as he be- 
held the whole city given up:to idolatry? Columbus 
everywhere; his praises on every tongue, and the God 
of the whole earth unrecognized! 


They have had a blessed holiness convention here, 
quite recently, with Bro. Doty as leader. There isa 
band of holy ones in Cleveland, “whose hearts the 
Lord hath touched.” 


Yesterday, in visiting from house with the pastor, 
we came to one home where we found the woman very 
sick and alone, except with two little children, and 
everything so plainly speaking of the need of this 
mother’s care. Is not thisa case we could bring to the 
Lord in faith? was suggested. And then the promise 
recorded by the Apostle James loomed up: “Is any 
among you sick, let him call for the elders of the 
church and let them pray over him, anointing his 
head with oil in the name of the Lord,” etc. As we 
read the words and asked the sister if she had faith in 
the Lord’s power to heal, she was deeply moved, ask- 
ing us to prayforher. The oil was procured and the 
anointing given by Brother Goodrich. Then we laid 
our hands upon her. Soon faith took hold, and Jesus 
drew near, displaying His healing power. The head 


_that had not been raised from the pillow for days with- 
out help, was lifted. Then she sat up, and in a little 


while asked for her clothes, walking into the next room, 
where we left her. The pastor has been to see her this 


_ morning, and says she is doing her work and is as 


bright as a new dollar. Praise the Lord! 


Tomorrow we commence meetings on the other 
side ofthe city. Brethren, pray forus.—‘‘The Highway,” 
Cleveland, O., May 6, 1893. 


304. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


MR. MOODY IN THE’CIRCUS PAVILION. 


“Be instant in season and out of season,” was the 
counsel of the aged Paul to Timothy, his son in the 
faith, and here and there the mantle of Paul has fallen 
on our modern preachers. One such I know, ready to 
enter every open door, fearless of all criticism, hearing 
everywhere the cry of lost souls, and hastening to the 
rescue. 

Our city, Chicago, is just now filled with its tens of 
thousands of visitors, bent on pleasure, to enjoy the 
sight of all that can be gathered together to minister 
to the eyes for gratification and delight—Solomon’s ex- 
periment repeated over again: ‘‘Tosearch out by wis- 
dom concerning allthings that are done under heaven;” 


and on many hearts will come his own experience and — 


verdict as to it all: ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity and 
vexation of spirit.” 

But other aims have drawn others to our city—to 
bear the water of life to the thirsty souls of the people 
—to tell them ‘We have found Him of whom Moses 
in the lawand the prophets did write.” 

Saints and sinners were startled at the end of last 
week by the announcement that on Sunday morning, at 
ten o’clock, Rev. D. L. Moody would preach in Fore- 
paugh’s Pavilion, on the lake shore. A friend staying 
with me greatly desired to hearthe evangelist, of whom 
she had heard so much, and as I .brought the matter 
before the Lord, the impression was strong to go. On 
arriving, passing through the first tent, and by the 
elephants and other animals, a large crowd was tiding 
in; many thousands filled the tiers of seats, and all the 
standing-room where the performers act their parts was 
filling up. A platform had been erected in the centre. 
Song after song ascended; urged by the preacher, the 
voices rose, singing the glad songs of adoring praise, 
which, over a century ago, from many a congregation 
like this had ascended when Wesley and Whitfield 
would draw-——nay, not they, but the Spirit of Jesus in 
them—such crowds to hear the ‘glad tidings of great 


RETURN OF A PRODIGAL SON. 305 


joy to all people.” Soon the preacher’s voice was 
heard, and through that vast congregation of ten thou- 
sand people there wasa perfect hush. His text was: “For 
the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which 
was lost.” 

How our hearts went up that the rich anointing of 
the Holy Ghost might be upon him,and it was. Praise 
the Lord! 


The preacher dwelt much on the words, “The Son 
of man,” “His lowly designation of Himself, ‘making 
Himself of noreputation,’ laying aside the glories of 
heaven to take our nature, seeking ever, EVER SEEKING 
those that are lost; following them through the provi- 
dences of their lives, through the application of His 
promises, through His warnings, here this Sabbath morn- 
ing seeking you! Thousands here are this morning con- 
scious of broken vows; you have wandered from the 
Savior. ‘Return, O wanderer, to thy rest.’ Death is 
on your track. AnotherSabbath morning and you may 
be where there is no repentance, no hope. Now, to- 
day, He is seeking here the lost. Our paths cross this 
morning—never, it may be, again on earth. One such 
instance,” Mr. Moody said, ‘“‘comes tome. I had leda 
meeting in the Young Men’s Christian Association 
rooms, when a stranger asked if he could speak. Per- 
mission was given, and he said: ‘I was brought up ina 
Christian home, but I hated the restraints; the family 
worship was distasteful and irksome. My carnal mind 
was enmity against God. I desired not the knowledge 
of His ways. My father died, and my mother became 
_ more importunate and earnest with me than ever that 
_ I should become a Christian. She would put her arms 
around my neck and plead with me. I would push her 
away, telling her I was young, and wanted to enjoy 
life. It was too much forme. I felt if I stayed at 
home I should have to yield. So I left, and plunged 
into sinful pleasures. The news reached me that my 
-mother was sick. I deferred going home, fearing I 
should have to yield; then news came that she was 


306 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


worse, and | started. The depot was a mile from 
my home, and on my way I passed the place where 
my father was buried. [I thought I would go and see 
his grave. An uncontrollable, strange feeling came 
over me as I crossed the fence, and there, on reaching 
the spot, was a new-made grave. The story was all 
told. My mother was buried. O the untold agony of 
that night; but Jesus saved me.’” ‘The Son of Man 
had come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 


“Hallelujah, what a Savior!” 


And surely at that hour in Forepaugh’s Pavilion He 
was doing the same blessed work. What lowered 
heads, what tearful eyes werethere. The ‘Lo, lam with 
you alway,” as you go to preach His gospel, is as true 
to-day as when it dropped from the lips of Christ on- 
the hearts of His first disciples. It was a wondrous, 
blessed sight, that sea of upturned faces, that tender, 
melting unction, which like the “precious ointment 
upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even 
Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of his gar- 
ment,” flowed through the preacher to that vast 
assembly. 

Did the same hand that closed the mouths of the 
lions that night when the holy Daniel was in their 
midst, touch these lions and tigers, or were they 
touched by the sounds of prayer and praise, so new 
there? We do not know, but the place seemed as quiet 
as any church could be. 

THE WORLD’S FAIR, CHICAGO. 

October 31, 1893.—‘t That he should stain the pride 
of all glory.” Six months ago this great World’s Fair 
was opened. O the boasting, the glorying in the 
creature, instead of the Creator! A being from another 


world might have supposed Columbus was the creator ~ 


of this great land, in the homage paid to his memory. 
Banners were floating, and everywhere his portrait and 
his name. We feared, as we saw the idolatry, our God 
was defied, His laws broken; and when that signal 





* aa 


.END OF THE WORLD’S FAIR. 307 


judgment came, and eighteen men were consumed by 
the flames, men began to think there was a God, and 
their stricken consciences were touched, and the Mayor 
and others, the chief movers in this violation of the 
Sabbath, met and wondered why it had been opened. 
Did they ever read Jeremiah? Did they never read 
“that the Word of our God abideth forever,” and that 
“though the wicked join hand to hand, they shall not 
go unpunished?” The last day of the Fair was to be 
one of great festivity, but the ‘Lord reigneth,” and, 
instead, it was one of mourning, for the chief magis- 
trate of our city had fallen on Saturday night by the 
hand of an assassin, and lies to-day in state, and the 
public places are draped in black. 

The immense whirl and rush of excitement in our 
great city of Chicago is about closed—a sad, sad wind- 
up. O how our God will stain the pride of all glory, 
that no flesh should glory in His presence. Some of 
us looked with fearfulness, and said: .‘‘ What will the 
end be to all this glorification of the creature?” <A few 
hours before the mayor was laid low by the hand of 
the assassin, he said: “I intend to live for more than 
half a century. I believe I shall live to see the day 
when Chicago will be the biggest city in America.” 

The Sabbath dawned. O, how our God was talking 
to His people. The Haymarket Theatre, with its three 
galleries, was packed to hear Mr. Moody. Faithful to 
Him who had called him, he took for his subject the 
rich man: pulling down his barns and building larger. 
“ Soul, take thine ease many years, for thou hast much 


_goods laid up; eat, drink and be merry.” Then the 


awful inbreaking of another voice: “Thou fool, this 
night shall thy soul be required of thee.” 

It was very pertinent, and the melting unction 
descended on preacher and hearers. May He who has 
promised that His Word shall not return unto Him void, 
bring, through this death, many to life. Amen and 
amen! . 
The one blessed accompaniment of this Fair has 


308 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


been the earnest preaching of the “ everlasting gospel ” 


by Mr. Moody, Henry Varley, of London, and other 
_ consecrated workers. Every Sabbath four or five of 
the largest theatres were filled. Glory to our God! 
Preach it ; preach it—the glad tidings of great: joy to 
all people! . 

“Tt shall never lose its power 

Till all the ransomed church above 
Are saved to sin no more.’ 


Mr. Pearson, one of Mr. Spurgeon’s helpers, ‘old 
of its wondrous power in the centre of London; how 
one man, without one touch of anything of art or dis- 
play in the building, with no music to touch the sensu- 
ous nature, had filled, for over thirty years, that large 
building by the gospel alone, the preaching of that 
Word which abideth forever. 

I shall never forget how, on the assassination of 
President Garfield, with what startling vividness it was 
all brought back again. The Lord spoke to me by 
these words ; ‘‘ The voice said cry ; and he said, ‘ What 
shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness 
thereof is as the flower of grass.” ‘But the Word of 
our God shall stand forever.” O, these blessed, blessed 
‘“forevers.” My soul revels in them! Ah, yes, 


“ Forever with the Lord— 
Amen, so let it be.” 


“Fullness of joy for evermore.” They are falling 
by our side, the co-workers. Bro. Chas. Cooke, wav- 
ing his hand in sign of victory as he passed the shores 
of time; Bro. Roberts, his last words on earth, “ Praise 
the Lord, amen!” Bro. R. W. Hawkins, in his dying 
hour, calling his friends to his bedside, said, “I take 
Jesus now as my uttermost Savior.” Then the noble 
confession followed—the apostles’ creed. Then, with 
his hand on the very door of eternity, he composed 
these lines : 

‘“On the nethermost banks of the swift-flowing tide, 

Departing forever from earth’s solemn strife, 


. 





Rar. 
2 

t ‘ 
Hy 


THE CAUSES OF “HARD TIMES.” 309 


Among beautiful fields on the paradise side, 
I shall lave in the crystalline waters of life.” 


May our death be the death of the righteous, our 
last end like theirs! 


FASHION AND EXTRAVAGANCE A CHIEF CAUSE OF 
SUFFERING AND HARD TIMES. 

Our politicians may theorize, and our wise men 
try to explain the great financial distress of our coun- 
try ; but does not a.great deal of it come from the 
expending of amounts exceeding the income, for need- 


~ less display? See the costly public buildings ; vast 


sums spent for that which brings no returns, but bur- 
dens the people with taxation. Look, too, at the end- 
less, ceaseless struggle after appearances ; display in 
homes (that causes debts, which hang like mill-stones 
on the necks of the people,) fine houses, fine furniture, 
luxuries for the table, the mad rush after fashion—the 
god at whose shrine the people worship, and whose 
behests, no matter how absurd they may be, are all 
obeyed. How often in passing the temples in Chicago 
where all the latest fashions are displayed, as I have 
seen the intense interest of the worshipers, I have in- 
voluntarily exclaimed, ‘‘ These be thy gods, O women 
of Chicago!” 

Talk of sacrifice! Home, domestic happiness, 
comfort—all are sacrificed to follow these vain fash- 
ions. The people are turned aside to fables. Were 
God’s holy Book studied and obeyed as the books of 
fashion are, the tide of sorrow and distress would roll 
back from our land. If God, even the God of Israel, 


_ were enthroned in the hearts of the people, then would 


our land yield her increase and God would bless us. 
All the nations of the earth should be blessed in Him. 

Replete with highest wisdom, and touching every 
phase of human life, is the Word of God, bringing 
much freedom and joy in its observance ; for in it our- 
Creator has said to His people, with touching pathos, 
“Othat thou hadst hearkened unto My command- 


310 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


ments ; then had thy peace been as a river, and thy 
righteousness asthe waves of the sea.” Obeying its 
teachings, the church of God would arise in her glor- 
ious beauty ; having lien among the pots so long she 
would soar aloft, “her wings covered with silver, and 
her feathers with yellow gold,” reflecting everywhere 
the rays of that glorious light beaming down from the 
Sun of Righteousness ; and a restless world would be 
attracted and soon brought to the Redeemer’s feet ; 
but, turning a deaf ear to all its teachings, our land, 
like those on the pages of history, will go down under 
the curse of the Almighty: ‘“ For the God who ruled 
im ancient times is just the same to-day.”—Sarah A. 
Cooke, in the ‘‘ Pentecost Herald.” 
A JEWESS IN PRISON. 

“TI wasin prison, and ye came unto We.” (Matt. 25: 
36.) Some of the most blessed times of nearness and 
consciousness of the presence of Jesus that I have ever 
enjoyed, have been when visiting our prisons in 
Chicago. 

Some weeks ago! noticed and. became much 
interested in a woman sitting apart from all others. 
I saw that it was witha sort of strange wonder she 
listened to me, but when I invited her to bow with us 
in prayer, she peremptorily refused, saying : “I don’t 
believe in your religion ; I am an Israelite.” 

Now came the mighty drawing to lift the veil that 
was on her heart, so that she might see and believe 
that this is the Christ. I would find myself uncon- 
sciously ever proving it from the prophets. “To the 
law, and to the testimony.” 

One day I received a note from her, saying that 
she wished to-see me. After the afternoon service, I 
went alone with her, and then she opened her heart. 

She had a little boy, the only one remaining of six; 
four had died, and one, eight months before, had been 
lost from the house of an uncle, a rabbi in St. Louis, 
and no trace of him could be found. A _ stranger in 
Chicago, she had been arrested, and who could, and 





INFANT LIPS GLORIFYING GOD. 311 


who would, take care of this child? With her strong 
pleadings that I would take him, I heard another voice 
stronger than her own, saying: ‘‘ Whosoever shall 
receive one of these little ones in My name, receiveth 
Me.” And when the assurance was given that I would 
take him, the depths of her heart were broken ; tears 
filled her eyes, and her bosom heaved. She pressed 
my hands to her lips, and with many words expressed 
her joy and gratitude. The little boy was received, 
and ina few days was quite at home. I found him 
wonderfully bright and intelligent. But all seemed 
new to him in our Christian home. At the first meal 
he asked, ‘‘ Why did we pray when weeat?” Iexplain- 
ed to him that God is the giver of all; and after that 
at every meal that voice was lifted in thanksgiving. 


_ Now was the golden opportunity to teach him of Jesus, 


“the way, the truth, and the life.” Icommenced with 
the second chapter of Matthew, one verse to be learned 
every morning. The first Sabbath I took him to the 
Salvation Army barracks. It seemed to fill him with 
wonder and delight. As the service progressed, a 
message came to me from Him “whose I am and whom 
Iserve.” Moving out in the congregation, I sat down, 
when through, at some distance from my little Jewish 
boy. Iwas taken by surprise when he walked up on 
the platform. After a little whispering with the cap- 
tain, the latter sat him down by his side, and then 
introduced him with: ‘“ This little boy wishes to tes- 
tify.” Then, standing before the large congregation, 
with a clear, sweet voice, he said; ‘‘ Now when Jesus 
was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod 


_the king, behold, there came wise men from the east, 


saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? 
For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to 
worship Him. Amen.” What a thrill went through 
many hearts! Faith looked up that it might be the 
boy’s life-work to be to many souls what the star was 
to the wise men. One day a dear sister asked him: 
“What do you want to be when you area man?” “A 


312 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, 


soldier in the Salvation Army,” was the quick answer ; 
‘Yes, and a preacher too.” 
I have not hidden these things from ie mother, 


and I believe that her soul is already drawing beams of 


light from the Sun of Righteousness. When I told 
her of the little incident that occurred in the Army 
meeting, she broke all down, and said: “If he ever 
becomes a Christian, it will be all your fault”’—my 
exceeding joy, I thought. 


‘“God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform.” 


The nine weeks of imprisonment of this Jewish 
mother, under a false charge (her accuser not even 
appearing at the time set for the trial,) may be God’s 


own method of leading these souls to a knowledge of 


the glorious gospel of His own dear Son. Even so, 
come Lord Jesus,and complete Thine own work. 
Amen and amen! 


TRYING TO SEE THE COMING LORD. 


I saw, lately, a picture wonderfully suggestive and 
instructive. A man, witha very large telescope, was 
looking right across the sea, for the appearing of Jesus. 
Behind him lay the Word of God and the ‘‘ sword of the 
Spirit,” while to his left was a great field of ripe wheat, 
waiting for the reaper’s hand to gather it in; and in 
the very midst, Jesus Himself was standing. Blessed, 


blessed are we, when thoughts of His probable speedy . 


coming intensify our desire for labor and to gather in 


souls for His Kingdom ; but when, as in many cases, it 


is only a matter of speculation, we believe it calls from 
the Lord the very rebuke He gave to His first disciples 


as they inquired of Him: “ Lord wilt thou, at this time, 


restore the Kingdom to Israel? And He said unto 
them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons 
which the Father has put in His own power.” But their 
work, after the Holy Ghost should come.upon them, 
was to be His witnesses in their own land and to the 
uttermost parts of the earth ; the one glorious prepara- 


LIGHT SHINING IN A DARK PLACE. 313 


tion for His coming, as a good servant, to be diligent in 
his Master’s work, every talent employed for Him. 
“IT SHINES FOR ALL.” 


The same glorious light is all-sufficient in the jun- 
gles of Africa, as in the highest circles on earth. Moffat 


- writes : 


“In one of my early journeys I came, with my 
companions, to a heathen village on the banks of the 
Orange River. We had traveled far, and were very 
hungry, thirsty and fatigued ; but the people of the vil- 
lage rather roughly directed us to halt at a distance. 
We asked for water, but they would not supply it. I 
offered the three or four buttons left on my jacket for 
a drink of milk, but was refused. We had the prospect 
of another hungry night, at a distance from water, 
though within sight of the river. 

“When twilight’ came on, a woman approached 
from the height beyond which the village lay. She 
bore on her head a bundle of wood, and had a vessel of 
milk in her hand. The latter, without opening her lips, 
she handéd to us, laid down the wood, and returned to 
the village. A second time she approached, with a cook- 
ing vessel on her head, a leg of mutton in one hand, and a 
vessel of water in the other. She sat down without saying 
a word, prepared the fire, and put on the meat. We asked 
her again and again who she was. She remained silent, 


until we affectionately entreated her to give a reason 


for such unlooked-for kindness to strangers. Then 
the tears rolled down her sable cheeks, and she replied, 
‘I love Him whose you are; and surely it is my duty 
to give youacup of cold water in His name. My 
heart is full, therefore I cannot speak the joy I feel at 
seeing you in this out-of-the-world place.’ On learn- 
ing a little of her history, and that she was a solitary 
light burning in a dark place, I asked her how she kept 
up the light of God in the entire absence of the com- 
munion of saints. She drew from her bosomacopy of 
the Dutch New Testament, which she had received 





314 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


from a missionary some years before. ‘This,’ said | 
she, ‘is the fountain whence I drink; this is the oil 
that makes my lamp burn.’ I looked on the precious 
relic, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
and the reader may conceive my joy while we mingled 
our prayers and sympathies together at the throne of 
the heavenly Father.” 
FROM MY JOURNAL. 

April 4—Yesterday while thinking of the acts of 
duplicity of one I had trusted, the Lord spoke to me 
in these words ; “ Be ye kind, tender-hearted, forbearing 
one another, and forgiving one another, even as God 
for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” O my Lord, in 
this case I will need the wisdom that cometh from on 
high. How I love to get these messages right from 
my Lord. Another, in reference to a swelling on my 
face: “Itis 1; be not afraid.” Sister Colborn left 
yesterday ; send whom thou wilt here, gracious Lord ;. 
this home is for thy saints! 

May 13.—For the last two or three weeks there 
has been such a lack of the Spirit of life and power. 
How many times I have thought of David Stoner’s 
words : “ Dread lukewarmness as you would dread hell-. 
fire, and when it begins to creep over you, cry mightily unto 
God until the soul ts all alive again.” Last night, at the 
quarterly meeting, I felt a touch again while speaking 
on the “ Word,” and called upon the people to join me 
in consecrating ourselves to obey the Lord; that for 
the next week, in all things, as He should make known 
to us His Word and will, we would obey. Some, with 
myself, held up our hands; “he vows of the Lord are 
upon us. Am impressed more and more to fast on Sab- 
bath morning. How we need to use every means to 
help the soul ; ‘lest we be overcharged with surfeiting 
and drunkenness and the cares of this world.” 

May 29.—“Thou wakenest my ear morning by 
morning,” were the words of the prophet Isaiah; how 
I love these early messages, before the world has time 
to crowd in. 


MY WINTER AT INDIANAPOLIS. 315 


May 29.—This morning these words came so vividly 
to me: “Having escaped the corruption which is inthe 
world through lust;” howI needed through all the day 
to set a watch; such temptations to seek my own ease, 
and comfort, and interest; but the Spirit of the Lord 
was there with the standard when the enemy would 
have come in like a flood. 

June 4.—Blessed Spirit, give me an increasing 
tenderness of conscience— 


‘A heart in every thought renewed, 
And full of love divine; 
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good-— 
A copy, Lord, of Thine.” 


Was specially drawn out yesterday in praying for 
wisdom. Inan interview with a friend, while talking 
with her of her family matters, how the Lord did an- 
swer. Found I had quite mistaken the relation of 
- things,.and should have wounded and hurt but for the 
gracious light given in answer to prayer. Am quite 
undecided about remaining where I am. Make my 
way very plain before my face, gracious Lord! 

December 14.—I came into Indianapolis about 
October 30 to see a sick lady, and am staying, the Lord 
opening work all along. Health so much improved; 
stronger at sixty-seven than at seventeen. Praise the 
Lord, O my soul! A family of eight here. 

March 7, 1895.—Most of the winter here in Indian- 
apolis, in a family of from four to thirteen. How 
greatly Iam blessed in ministering to the Lord’s chil- 
dren of my substance! How His loving hand has led 
me! Ways are wonderfully opening for work, in the 
workhouse (prison), Boys’ Club, Salvation Army, city 
hospital, and in the homes of the people. 

March 10o.—In 1871 Mr. Wesley said to his friend 
- Bradburn, that his experience at almost any time might 
be expressed in these lines: 


“OQ Thou who camest from above 
The pure celestial fire t’ impart, 


316 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, 


Kindle a flame of sacred love 
On the mean altar of my heart. 
“There let it for Thy glory burn, 
With inextinguishable blaze; 
And, trembling, to its source return 
In humble love and fervent praise.” 


Let this, blessed Savior, be my expérience! 


March 30.—These words came with much sweet- . 


ness: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
abound.” I took hold by faith for more grace, and it 
is coming: O so much need of deep humility and low- 
liness of heart! 

April 3—Yesterday my beloved sister-in-law, 
Brother George’s wife, passed away, just fourteen years 
after my husband. Comfort and cheer him, gaa 
Lord, under this heavy bereavement! 

April 19.—‘Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet.” 
So much impressed and convicted with these words: 


“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy — 


brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in 
thine own eye? or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let 
me cast out the mote out of thine eye?” So quick- 
sighted to see the faults of others; dceholdest, lookest, 
thinkest, upon them; there is deliverance; there is a 
dwelling in love, ‘that thinketh no evil.” I get touches 
of it, but I want it to be ever-abiding: “He that dwell- 
eth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.” My 
Savior, give me wisdom, Thine own wisdom, to walk 
blamelessly before Thee in love. Take away this sharp- 
ness of speaking to others. Give me more love. “The 
wisdom from above; first pure, then peaceable, gentle, 
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality and without hypocrisy.” Thou didst 
translate me out of darkness into Thy marvelous light. 
Thou didst make me an heir of eternal glory. Thou 
didst put a new song into my mouth, even a song of 
praise forever more. 
“Dear dying I.amb, Thy precious blood 
Shall never lose its power, 





THE GRACE OF SUFFERING. 317 


Till all the ransomed church of God 
Are saved, to sin no more.” 


Called a few nights ago to pray for the recovery 
of a sister, a worker in the Lord’s vineyard, and found 
her very anxious to be out again in the work. With 
the others, we knelt around her, but the faith did not 
come for healing. All the promise I could get was: 
“If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth 
us; and if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we 
ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired 
of Him.” Isthis Thy will, my Lord? After a long sea- 
son of prayer the healing did not come, and day by day 
she is learning more and more a sweet submission to 
His will: As, this morning, I took my seat beside her 
bed, she said: ‘‘O I am learning lessons here I could 
have never learned any other way.’”’ The impatience is 
all passing away, andthe willingness to be Be aside 
has come; 


. “To suffer all His righteous will, 
And to the end endure.” 


Milton says of the angels: ‘‘They also serve who 
only stand and wait.” 


“Times of refreshing to the soul 
In sickness oft He brings; 
Prepares it then to meditate 
On high and holy things. 
I would not but have passed those depths, 
And such communion known, 
As may be had in that border-land - 
With Thee and Thee alone.” 


We—our Mission Band—were holding meetings in 
Crown Point, Ind., andthe Lord was much blessing us, 
when, one day, starting out to the afternoon meeting 
(there being a little snow and ice on the plank), I 
slipped down and broke a limb. I was close to Brother 
Hanmer’s house, and they carried me in there. I well- 
knew what had happened before the doctor came; and 
I knew, as well, that He, without whom not a sparrow 


318 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


falleth, had not permitted itbut for some wise purpose; 
and faith began to look up for some reason; and it was 


givenin that hour, in these words: ‘‘Let patience have her ~ 


perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, want- 
ing nothing.” O how the blessing came into my soul! 
I see it, Lord—I see it! My spirit had got hurried with 





so much to do. A red line encircles that verseinmy ~~ 


Bible, with “broken limb” written on the margin. Dear - 


Sisters Hanmer and Jones kindly cared for me. I shall 
never forget the first time I walked around the room on 
crutches, singing : 


“Am Ia soldier of the cross, 
A follower of the Lamb; 

And shall I fear to own His cause, 
Or blush to speak His name? 


Must I be carried to the skies 
On flow’ry beds of ease, 

While others fought to win the prize, 
And sailed through bloody seas? 


Thy saints in all this glorious war 
Shall conquer though they die; 

They see the triumph from afar— 
By faith they bring it nigh. 

Sure I must fight if I would reign— 
Increase my courage, Lord; 


I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, 
Supported by Thy Word.” 


Paul could say: “We glory in tribulation, also, 
knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience 
experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh 
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto 


” 


us.” And is not this Holy Spirit omnipotent, leading 


and directing as He will? A holiness preacher says of — 


Sheridan Baker: ‘He was the most saintly man I ever 
knew. He was bent with rheumatism, for the last 


twenty years of his life. He had seen scores and 


scores of people healed in answer to his prayers, and, 


AN APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE CALLED. 319 


during a course of thirty years, and hundreds of times, 
friends would pray for him and he would himself begin 
to pray for healing; then, he said, he would not pray 
more than three words, for the moment he got his mind 
on God he forgot all about being healed himself, and 
he never had adesire to pray for his own healing; and 
he was never permitted to do it. He wasanointed, but 
he was not healed.” O who shall say that this was not 
a parallel case with that of St. Paul and hundreds of 
others, of grace more abounding through suffering? 
Read, beloved friends, and study carefully, Romans 
8:26, 27. It will unravel many perplexities about heal- 
ing, as well as other things. 


THE EXPERIENCE OF MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD. 


All who read these pages, no doubt, will have 
heard and felt a deep interest in the great work which 
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is doing, 
and of which Miss Frances E. Willard has so long been 
_ the President and leading spirit. We thank God fora 
woman in whose heart dwells so much of devotion to 
Him, and who is guided by that wisdom which cometh 
from Him alone. In her Life she gives an account of 
her first ‘translation into the kingdom of God’s own 
dear Son,” and then of the further work of the Holy 
Ghost—she blessing of holiness ; how obtained, and how, 
as ever, lost when God’s order is not followed by defi- 
nite confession. of its possession. I give it partly in 
her own words : 


She says that one night in June, 1859, when nine- 
teen years old, she was lying dangerously ill with 
typhoid fever, the physician having told her mother 
that the crisis of the disease would soon be reached ; 
that two voices seemed to speak within her soul, one 
saying, ‘‘ Give me thy heart ; I called thee long by joy; 
I call thee now by chastisement ; but I have called 
thee always and only because I have loved thee with 
_ an everlasting love.” The other voice was persuading 
_ her that she would get well and to continue in her 


320 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


skepticism and sin. As she looked toward following 
the one voice it seemed ‘“ warm, sunny, safe, with an 
impression of snowy wings ;” and when she listened to 
the other voice, it grew ‘cold, dismal, dark.” The 
conflict went on : at last, solemnly, and with her whole 
heart, she resolved, ‘If God lets me get well, I'll try 
and bea Christian girl.” She told her mother, and 
then she went to sleep—the resolution she had made 
bringing enough peace to quiet her soul. She did get 
well; and the following winter at a revival meeting 
held in the old Methodist church she went to the altar 
as a seeker of salvation. For fourteen consecutive 
nights she went to thealtar, and “‘prayed and agonized.” 
At last, one night after returning home, she knelt be- 
side her bed and settled the matter with God. A quiet- 
ness anda gentle persuasion pervaded her soul, and 
the next night she testified to it. She joined the Meth- 
odist church on probation. Prayer-meeting, class- 
meeting and church services were most precious to her, 
and she began active endeavors to lead others to 
Christ. In the course of time she was made painfully 
aware that inbred sin yet dwelt within, and felt the 
need of a clean heart. 

“In 1866 Mrs. Bishop Hamline came to our village. 
This saintly woman placed in my hands the ‘Life of ~ 
Hester Ann Rogers,’ ‘Life of Carvosso,’ ‘Life of Mrs. 
Fletcher,’ Wesley’s ‘Sermons on Christian Perfection,’ 
and Mrs. Palmer’s ‘Guide to Holiness.’ I had never 
seen any of these books before, but had read ‘Peck’s 
Central Idea of Christianity,’ and been greatly inter- 
ested init. I had also heard saintly testimony in 
prayer-meeting, and, in a general way, believed in the 
doctrine of holiness. But my reading of these books, © 
my talks and prayers with Mrs. Hamline, that modern 
Mrs. Fletcher, deeply impressed me. I began to desire 
and pray for holiness of heart. 

“Soon after Dr. and Mrs. Phoebe Palmer came to 
Evanston, and for weeks they held meetings in our 
church. One evening, early in the meetings, when Mrs. 














UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER TO CHRIST. 321 


- Palmer had spoken with marvelous clearness and power, 
and at the close those desirous of entering into the higher 
Christian life had been asked to kneel at the altar, 
another crisis came to me. It was not so tremendous 
as the first, but it was one that solemnly impressed my 
spirit. Iturned tomy mother and whispered, ‘ Will 
you go with me to the altar?’ She did not hesitate a 
moment. Kneeling in utter self-abandonment, I conse- 
crated myself anew to God. 

‘“My chief besetments were, as I thought, a specu- 
lative mind, a hasty temper, a too ready tongue, and 
the purpose to bea celebrated person. But in that 
hour of sincere self-examination I felt humiliated to find 
that the simple bits of jewelry I wore: gold buttons, 
rings and pin, all of them plain and ‘quiet’ in their style, 

“came up to meas the separating causes between my 
spirit and my Savior. Ail this seemed so unworthy of 
that sacred hour that I thought at first it was a mere 
temptation. Butthe sense of it remained so strong that 
I unconditionally yielded my pretty little jewels, and 
great peace came to my soul. I cannot describe the 
deep welling-up of joy that gradually possessed me. I 
was utterly free from care. I was blithe as a bird that 
is good for nothing except to sing. I did not ask my- 
self, ‘Is this my duty?’ but just intuitively KNEW what I 
was called uponto do. The conscious, emotional 
presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit held me. I 
ran about on His errands ‘just for love.’ Life wasa 
halcyon day. -All my friends knew and noticed the 
change, and I would not like to write down the lovely 
things some of them said to me; but they did me no 
harm, for I was shut in with the Lord. And yet, just 
then there came, all unintended and unlooked for, an 
experience of what I did not then call sin, which I now 
believe to have been wrong. In this holy, happy state, 

_Iengaged to go from Evanston to Lima, N. Y., and 

become preceptress of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary.” 

Now came in the tempter, in the shape of a doctor 
of divinity, who advised her not to testify as plainly in 


322 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Western New York as she had done in Evanston ; “it 
would make trouble;” “enjoy it, but not so zealously 
profess it’”—thus hiding her Lord’s talent in a napkin. 
She says : 


“So I went to Lima with these thoughts, and 
there, quite soon, in a prayer-meeting in the old Sem- 
inary chapel, Professor replied to a student who 
rose to inquire about holiness: ‘It is a subject that 
we do. not mention here.’ Young and docile-minded 
as I was, and revering those two great men, I ‘kept 
still’ until I soon found I had nothing in particular to 
‘keep still’ about. The experience left me. Since 
then I have sat at the feet of every teacher of holiness 
whom I could reach ; have read their books. I love 
and reverence, and am greatly drawn toward all, and 
never feel out of harmony with their spirit. Indeed, 
it is the ONLY LIFE, and all my being sets Camaas it as 
the rivers toward the sea.’ 





GLORIOUS ENDING OF REV. WILLIAM KENDALL. 


‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
His saints.” Co-worker with Dr. Redfield and the 
glorious little band of early F. M. Methodists, was the 
Rev. William Kendall. The closing scenes of his life 
were so blessed that we give them a place here: 


‘He revived on Sabbath, and was very happy, his 
face radiant with glory. He said: ‘This is the most 
blessed Sabbath I ever knew.’ The next day he hada 
severe conflict with Satan, but gained -a glorious vic- 
tory. He said: ‘Jesus, the mighty Conqueror, reigns!’ 
The next day, he exclaimed: ‘Why, heaven has come 
down to earth; I see the angels; they are flying through 
the house!’ After a little sleep, on waking, he ex- 
claimed: ‘I have seen the King in his beauty—King of 
glory; have slept in His palace! I was intimate with 
the angels—O so intimate with the angels!’ For a while 
he was delirious. Again he had a conflict with the 
powers of darkness, but quickly triumphed, and ex- 
claimed with a smile: ‘I can grapple with the grim 





OLD-TIME CAMP-MEETINGS IN KENTUCKY. 323 


monster death.’ Onthe Sabbath he was thought to be 
dying. His wife had her ear to his lips, as he lay gaz- 
ing upward and waving his arms, as though fluttering 
to be gone, and heard him breathe: ‘Hail! hail! all 
hail!’ ‘What do you see?’ He replied: ‘I see light! 
light! light! I see;’ and, pausing in silence a while, he 
suddenly broke out in a clear, though somewhat falter- 
ing tone: 
“<*Fallelujah to the Lamb who hath purchased our 
pardon!— 

We'll praise Him again when we pass over Jordan.’ 


“One asked: ‘Is all well?’ He replied, with inef- 
fable sweetness, three times: ‘All is well!’ 

“The chill of death came on soon, and pointed to — 
his speedy relief. Once more he revived, and sang 
very sweetly: 


‘““*C) how happy are they who their Savior obey.’ 
“Then— 


‘My soul’s full of glory, inspiring my tongue; 
Could I meet with the angels, I’d sing them a song,’ etc.” 


A few more struggles of nature, and the silver cord 
loosened, and the warrior fell to rise immortal, Feb- 
ruary I, 1858. 

THOSE WONDERFUL CAMP-MEETINGS. 

What wonderful camp-meetings these early Pres- 
byterians had in Kentucky! We readin the life of 
James B. Finley of one of them, and of his conversion 
as he was returning from it under awful conviction. He 
says: “In the month of August, 1801, I learned that 
there was to be a great meeting at Cane Ridge, in my 
father’s old congregation. Feeling a great desire to 
see the wonderful things that had come to my ears, and 
having been solicited by some of my old schoolmates 
to go over into Kentucky for the purpose of revisiting 
the scenes of my childhood, I resolved to go. Obtain- 
ing company, I started from my woody retreat in High- 


324 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


land County. Having reached the neighborhood of 
the meeting, we stopped and put up for the night. The 
family, who seemed to be posted in regard to the move- 
ments of the meeting, cheerfully answered all our in- 
quiries, and gave us all the information we _ desired. 
The next morning we started for the meeting. On the 
way I said to my companion: ‘Now if I fall, it must be 
by physical power, and not by singing and praying;’ 
and I prided myself upon my manhood and courage. 
I had no fear of being overcome by any nervous excite- 
ment, or being frightened into religion. We arrived 
upon the ground, and here a scene presented itself to 
my mind, not only novel and unaccountable, but awful 
. beyond description. A vast crowd, supposed by some 
to have amounted to twenty thousand, was collected to- 
gether. The noise was like the roar of Niagara. The 
vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by 
astorm. I counted seven ministers, all preaching at 
one time; some on stumps, others in wagons, and one 
(the Rev. William Burke) was standing on a tree 
which had, in falling, lodged against another. Some 
of the people were singing, others praying , some crying 
for mercy in the most piteous accents, while others 
were shouting most vociferously. While witnessing 
these scenes, a most peculiar sensation, such as I had 
never felt before, came over me. My heart beat tumul- 
tuously, my knees trembled, my lips quivered, and I 
felt asthough I might fall to the ground. A strange 
supernatural power seemed to pervade the entire mass 
of mind there collected. I became so weak and power- 
less that I found it necessary to sit down. Soon after, 
I left and went into the woods, and there strove to 
rally and man up my courage. I tried to philosophize 
in regard to these wonderful exhibitions, resolving them 
into mere sympathetic excitement—a kind of religious 
enthusiasm, inspired by song and eloquent harangues. 
My pride was wounded, for I had supposed that my 
mental strength and vigor could most surest re= 


sist these influences. 








A NIGHT OF TERRIBLE CONVICTION. 325 


“After some time I returned to the scene of excite- 


_ ment, the waves of which, if possible, had risen still 


higher. Thesame awfulness of feeling came over me. 
I stepped up on a log, where I could have abetter view 
of the surging sea of humanity. The scene that there 
presented itself to my sight was indescribable. Atone 
time I saw at least five hundred swept down in a 
moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been 
opened upon them, and then immediately followed 
shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens. My hair 
rose up on my head, my whole frame trembled, my 
blood ran coldin my veins, and I fled for the woodsa 
second time, and wished I had stayed at home. While 
I remained here my feelings became intense and insup- 
portable. A sense of suffocation and blindness seemed 
to come over me, and I thought I was going to die. 
There being a tavern about halfa mile off, I concluded 
to go and get some brandy, and see if it would 
strengthen my nerves. When I arrived there I was 
disgusted with the sight that met my eyes. Here I saw 
about one hundred men engaged in drunken revelry, 
playing cards, trading horses, quarreling and fighting. 
After some time | got to the bar, and took a dram and 


‘left, feeling that I was as near hell as I wished to be, 


either in this world or the world to come. The brandy 
had no effect in allaying my feelings, but, if anything, 
made me worse. Night at length cameon, and I was 
afraid to see any of my companions. I cautiously 


‘avoided them, fearing lest ‘they should discover that 


something was the matter with me. In this state I 
wandered about from place to place, in and around the 


“encampment. At times it seemed as if all the sins I 


had ever committed in my life were vividly brought up 
in array before my terrified imagination, and under 
their awful pressure I felt that I must die if I did not 
get relief. Then it was that I saw clearly through the 
thin veil of Universalism, and this refuge of lies was 
swept away by the Spirit of God. Then fell the scales 
from my sin-blinded eyes, and I realized, in all its force 


326 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


and power, the awful truth that if I died in my 
sins I was a lost man forever. O how I dreaded the 
death of the soul; for 


‘There is a death whose pang 
Outlasts the fleeting breath; 

O what eternal horrors hang 
Around the second death!’ 


“Notwithstanding all this, my heart was so proud 
and hard that I would not have fallen to the ground 
for the whole State of Kentucky. I felt that such an 
event would have been an everlasting disgrace, and 
put a final quietus on my boasted manhood and cour- 
age. 

“At night I went to a barn in the neighborhood, 
and, creeping under the hay, spent a most dismal night. 
I resolved in the morning to start for home, for I felt 
that I wasaruined man. Finding one of my friends 
who came over with me, I said: ‘ Captain, let us be off; 
I will stay no longer.’ He assented, and, getting on 
our horses, we started for home. We said but little 
on the way, though many a deep, long-drawn sigh told 
the emotions of my heart. When we arrived at Blue 
Lick Knobs, I broke the silence which reigned mutually” 
between us. Like long-pent-up waters, seeking for an 
avenue in the rock, the fountains of my soul were 


broken up, and I exclaimed: ‘Captain, if you and I — 


don’t stop our wickedness, the devil will get us both.’ 
Then came from my streaming eyes the bitter tears, and 
I could scarcely refrain from screaming aloud. This 
startled and alarmed my companion, and he commenced 
weeping too. Night approaching, we put up at Mays- 
lick ; the whole of that night was spent by me in weep- 
ing and promising God, if He would spare me till 
morning, I would pray and try to mend my life and 
abandon my wicked courses. 


‘As soon as day broke I went to the woods to pray, 
and no sooner had my knees touched the ground, than 
I cried aloud for mercy and salvation, and fell pros- 


i Te A er 
Se dest a 

“5 es se 

re Oey - 
Ps 


‘tbe ene, 


THE DESERT BLOOMING LIKE THE ROSE. 327 


trate. My cries were so loud that they attracted the atten- 
tion of neighbors, many of whom gathered around me. 
Among the number was a German from Switzerland, who 
had experienced religion. He understood fully my con- 
dition, had me carried to his house and laid on a bed. 
The old saint directed me to look right away to the 
Savior. He then kneeled at the bedside and prayed 
for my salvation most fervently, in Dutch and broken 
English. He then rose and sang in the same manner, 
and continued singing and praying alternately till nine 
o’clock, when suddenly my load was gone, my guilt 
removed, and presently THE DIRECT WITNESS FROM 
HEAVEN SHONE FULL UPON MY SOUL. Then there flowed 
such copious streams of love into the hitherto waste and 
desolate places of my soul, that I thought I should die with 
excess of joy. \ cried, I laughed, I shouted, and so 
strangely did I appear to all but my Dutch brother, 
that they thought me deranged. After a while I re- 
turned to my companion, and we started on our jour- 
ney. Owhataday it was to my soul! The Sun of 
Righteousness had arisen upon me, and all nature 
seemed to rejoice in the brightness of the rising. The 
trees that waved their lofty heads in the forest seemed 
to bow them in adoration and praise. The living 
stream of salvation flowed into my soul. I felt a love 
for all mankind, and reproached myself for having been 
such a fool as to live so long in sin and misery, when 
there was so much mercy for me.” 





TO MRS. ANNE GRANT, 
Cuicaco, Ill., June 2, 1894. 

My BELoveED Sister : It is long since! have written 

to you, but you know the reason. Every day is so fully 
occupied, no moments are unemployed. Praise the Lord 

_ for the glorious privilege of spending and being spent for 
Him! And how is it dear, with you? Still suffering 
from infirmities of the flesh? I don’t know whether 
the, Lord will ever give youa strong body, but, some 
way, I do not think your work is done, your course run, 


328 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


I feel that the Lord hath need of thee, to show forth 
His praises. ‘“‘Ye are the light of the world,” and 
through His own disciples He lets the light fall on the 
darkness of -unsaved hearts. If you cannot go out in 
His service, constantly you are brought in touch with 
sinners and worldly professors. Be true everywhere 
to God, whose youare, and whom you serve. Theother 
night, in returning from a meeting with a few of the 
slum-workers in the Salvation Army, I got them, after 
some persuasion, to sing on the cars, ‘“ Rock of Ages.” 
O how the blessing of God came down on their souls. 
Then it did not stop there; but, while waiting for 
another car, we found two ladies waiting also, and we 
began to tell them all about it, and got them interested, 
and gave them a copy of ‘‘ The War Cry.” _ Beside all 
waters sow: : 


“Thou knowest not which shall thrive, 
The late or early sown ; 
And duly shal! appear, 
In beauty, verdure, strength, 
The germ, the blade, the ear, 
And the full corn at length.” 


How are the children coming on in the divine life? 
The promise is unto youand your children. Hold on 
to God; take His promises continually to Him, and 
do your own part. How full the Word of God is of 
bringing them up. ‘‘ in the nurture (tender thought of 
the love and goodness of God), and admonition, -nd 
fear of Him;” of His hatred of sin, of its awful retribu- 
tion, that awful hell that awaits those who trifle with 
His mercy and set His laws at defiance. ‘This shall 
they have at My hand, they shall lie down in sorrow ;” 
yea, they shall dwell in the lake of fire, “where there is 
weeping, and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” O we 
must not hold back the Word of God. I wonder if we 
shall meet this summer. Ifthe Lord wills, I should 
like to take in camp-meeting work in my visit to you. 
Will you let me know if there should be any not far 
from you, or on the way from Chicago? May, perhaps, 





THE FALSE HOPE OF THE MERE PROFESSOR. 329 


go tothe meeting to be held at Greensburg, Ind., on 
June 16, by Brother Nelson and Pentecost Workers. 
Am so sorry there is any division; pray the great 
Lord of the harvest to give heavenly wisdom to all 
concerned. O our people, I believe, could have swept 
all over America with the plainness, simplicity, zeal 
and power they had twenty years ago. Now, in many 
places, worldliness and formalism are creeping in. Bro. 
Roberts said, in the last Conference when I met with 
him: ‘‘ We are dying out, through trying to be like 
other churches.” O it must be the old path of self- 
denial and separation from the world that leads to vic- 
tory. We are followers of Him who could say: 
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but 
the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” How 
this ought to stain the pride of all glory; born ina 
stable, cradled i ina manger, His dyi vas head _pillowed 
on a cross. 

Write me soon, and, more: than all beloved one, 
bear me on your heart before God. You know my 
needs—wisdom, love, grace. Love to all the dear fam- 
ily, In Jesus, as ever, thine, 

SARAH A. COOKE, 


CHAPTER XXUE. 


“(I NEVER knew you,” will be the words of God to 
some who will come right up to the gates of heaven. 
A fancied righteousness of their own weaving is all 
the naked souls of many willhaveon that day. Belong- 
ing to a church, following its teachings and regulations, 
when not at all interfering with their comfort and 
worldly interests ; but taking up no crosses, bearing 
no reproaches for His sake—they have no experience 
which the Apostle Paul tells us is the badge of all who 
will live godly in Christ Jesus—“ that they will suffer 
persecution”—in every age, in every clime, the same, 


330 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, 


Said the glorious Christ: “I came not to send peace 
on the earth; the mother shall be divided against the 
daughter ; and a man’s foes shall be those of his own 
household.” Peace? Yes, “the peace of God which 
passeth all understanding” shall keep the heart, when 
it abidesin Him; but as the blessed light shines 
through it on those living in the darkness of sin, if 
rejected, it will stir up carnality, and there will be war 
on one hand, the flesh warring against the Spirit. 


A blessed preacher, at Springfield, a few days 
before his death, told his wife of a vision-or dream he 


hadhad. He said, ‘‘Isawa multitude making their . 


way, as though up to the very gate of heaven, but most 
of them would be stopped and turned back,” and the 
angel said to him: ‘‘ Most of these people have been 
deceived by their preachers.” One such instance of 
self-deception comes before me, narrated in the writ- 
ings of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer: In substance, it is as 
follows: A young Christian had been brought, in the 
light of God’s Word, to see that all the revealed Word 
was God’s will for her; and, under the light of the 
Holy Spirit, she read of women professing godliness, 
“‘ whose adorning was not to be the wearing of gold, or 
pearls, or costly array, but the ornament of a meek and 
quiet spirit ;” that His people whom He came to 
redeem He would make a “ peculiar people, zealous of 
good works,” with the thrilling clarion call of separa- 
tion’ from the world. She had obeyed, and wished 
much toimpart the light to others. E had a friend, 
like herself a professor of religion, but all conformed 





to the vain fashions of the world. She would remon- ~ 


strate with her, but would be met with the constant 
argument on the lips of those who cling to the world: 
“Religion has nothing to do with these little matters;” 
and still she followed on, not knowing her Lord, but 
the changing fashions of the vain world around her. 
Consumption seized her, and gradually her bodily 
strength failed her, and the false hope buoyed her up 
that all was right between her soul and God. Had 


me a nr ae 
ei AP he 


a 


' 


PRE-VISIONS OF THE GLORY-WORLD. 331 


she not called Him ‘Lord, Lord ;’ had she not long 
made a profession of attachment to His cause? At 
last the end came; friends had-gathered around her 
dying bed. Respiration grew shorter and shorter, and 
at last ceased ; and they deemed the spirit already in 
the embrace of the angels, winging it to the abodes of 
immortality. Then came a fearful shriek, and she 
started from the death-bed, sitting upright, with every 
feature distorted. Horror and disappointment had 
transformed that placid countenance, so that it exhib- 


ited an expression indescribably fiendish. “I cannot 
die ; I won't die!” she screamed out. Atthat moment 
the door opened and her minister entered. ‘Out of 


the door, thou deceiver of men!” she cried, fell back, 
and the scene on earth was closed. 





JAMES B. FINLEY’S VISION OF HEAVEN. 


In opening this epistle to his own countrymen, 
written to prove that this Jesus is their very Messiah, 
Paul says: “God, who at sundry times and in divers 
manners, spake in times past unto the fathers.” One 
of His ways, in all ages, has been by portraying the un- 
seen and eternal powerfully by vision on the human 
mind. Long before the days of Peter, to Isaiah and 
others of the prophets He had thus spoken. But, tak- 
ing up the prophecy of Joel, as now having its fulfill- 
ment, He says: ‘‘And your young men shall see visions, 
and your old men shall dream dreams;” the reason 
why? The young and strong might be able to with- 
_ stand the great shock often accompanying these revela- 
tions, too overwhelming, physically, for the weak and 
aged. One such, of heaven, was once given to James 
B. Finley, not for himself alone, or for those of his own 
generation: 

THE VISION. 

That heaven is real there can beno doubt. That 
others beside St. Paul have been allowed a view of Para- 
dise, is evident from the testimony of the most reliable 





332 WAYSIDE SKETCHES, ~ 


witnesses, such as Dr. Tenant, of New Jersey, Dr. Coke 
and many others. 


One of the most interesting and touching incidents - 


of this character is related by Rev. James B. Finley, in 
his “Autobiography.” It occurred in 1842, when he 
was presiding elder of the Lebanon Distriet, Ohio Con- 
ference. He tells us that he was ‘winding up the labors 
of a very toilsome year. I had scarcely finished my 
work till I was most violently attacked with bilious 
fever, and it was with great difficulty lreached my 
home.” He sank rapidly. The best medical skill 
failed to arrest the disease, and life was utterly de- 
spaired of. “On the seventh night,” he says, “in a 
state of entire insensibility to all around me, when the 
lastray of hope had departed, and my weeping family 
and friends were standing around my couch, waiting to 


see me breathe my last, it seemed to me that a heavenly | 


visitant entered my room. It came to my side, and in 
the softest and most silvery tones, which fell like rich 
music on my ear, it said: ‘I have come to conduct you 


to another state and place of existence.’ In an instant 
I seemed to rise, and, gently borne by my angel guide, 


I floated out upon the ambient air. Soon earth was 
lost in the distance, and around us on every side were 
worlds of light and glory. On, on, away, away, from 
world to luminous worlds afar, we sped with the veloc- 
ity of thought. At length we reached the gates of 
Paradise; and O the transporting scenes that fell upon 
my vision, as the emerald portals, wide and high, rolled 
back upon their golden hinges! Then, in its fullest ex- 
tent, did I realize the invocation of the poet: 


‘Burst, ye emerald gates, and bring 
To my raptured vision 

All the ecstatic joys that spring 
Round the bright Elysian.’ 


“Language, however, is inadequate to describe 
what then, with unveiled eyes, I saw. The vision is in- 
delibly pictured on my heart. Before me, spread out 


VISIONS OF HEAVENLY BLISS AND BEAUTY. 333 


in beauty, was a broad sheet of water, clear as crystal, 
not a single ripple on its surface, and its- purity and 
clearness indescribable. 


“While I stood gazing with joy and rapture at the 
scene, a convoy of angels was seen floating in the pure 
ether of that world. They all had long wings, and al- 
though they went with the greatest rapidity, yet their 
wings were folded close to their side. While gazing, I 
asked my guide who these were, and what their mission. 
To this he responded: ‘They are angels, dispatched to_ 
the world from whence you came, on an errand of 
mercy.’ I could hear strains of the most entrancing 
melody all around me, yet no one was discoverable but 
my guide. Atlength I said: ‘Will it be possible for 
* me to have a sight of some of the just made perfect in 

glory?’ Just then there came before us three persons; 
one had the appearance of a male, the other a female, 
and the third an infant. The appearance of the first 
two was somewhat similar to the angels I saw, with the 
exception that they had crowns upon their heads, of 
the purest yellow, and harps in their hands. Their 
robes, which were full and flowing, were of the purest 
white. Their countenances were lighted up with 
heavenly radiance, and they smiled upon me with in- 
effable sweetness. 

“There was nothing with which the blessed babe or 
child could be compared. Its wings, which were most 
beautiful, were tinged with all the colors of the rain- 
bow. Its dress seemed to be of the whitest silk, cov- 
ered with the softest white down. The driven snow 
could not exceed it for whiteness or purity. Its face 
was all radiant with glory; its very smile now plays 
around my heart. I gazed and gazed with wonder upon 
this heavenly child. Atlength I said: ‘If I have to re- 

turn to earth, from whence I came, I should love to 
take this child with me, and show it to the weeping 
mothers of earth. Methinks when they see it, they 
will never shed another tear over their children when 
they die.’ So anxious was I to carry out the desire of 


334 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


my heart, that I made a grasp at the bright and beauti- 
ful one, desiring to clasp it in my arms, but it eluded 
my grasp and plunged into the river of life. Soon it 
rose up from the water, and as the drops fell from its 
expanding wings, they seemed like diamonds, so 


brightly did they sparkle. Directing its course to the 


other shore, it flew up to one of the topmost branches 
of one of life’s fair trees. With a look of most seraphic 
sweetness it gazed upon me, and then commenced sing- 
ing in heaven’s own strain: ‘To Him that hath loved 
me, and washed me from my sins in His own blood, to 
Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.’ 

“At that moment the power of the eternal God 
came upon me, and I began to shout, and, clapping my 
hands, I sprang from my bed, and was healed as in- 
stantly as the lame man in the beautiful porch of the 
temple, who ‘went walking, and leaping, and praising 
God.’ Overwhelmed with the glory I saw and felt, I 
could not cease praising God. 

“The next Sabbath I went to camp-meeting, filled 
with the love and power of God. There I told the 
listening thousands what I saw and felt, and what God 
had done for me, and loud were the shouts of glory 
that reverberated through the forest.” 

This is a most eee ane case. Father Adams, a 
member of the Ohio Conference, now residing at 
Orange, Southern California, told us that he was pres- 
ent at the camp-meeting, and heard Mr. Finley relate 
the circumstances, when such power fell on the people 
that not lessthan five hundred sinners were crying to 
God for mercy, while the saints of God shouted for joy. 

The healing was divine—done by the power of God. 
The man was made whole ina moment, after all hope of 
life had fled. How unlike most of the professed heal- 
ing of these times ! ‘1_“Christian Witness.” 





HEAVEN OR HELL AWAITS US. 
“And the Lord called unto Adam, and said, Where 
art thou?”—Gen. 3:9. 


\ WS 
i 
~~ 


* 


ee 


MAN CANNOT HIDE FROM GOD. 335 


We will go back to the morning of creation, when 
all nature had sprung forth from the hand of her Cre- 
ator, when He looked on the fair world and pronounced 
it “very good,” and “the morning stars sang together.” 
One supreme test, or token of obedience, was given to 
holy, happy man: “If thou eat of the tree which is in 
the midst of the garden thou shalt surely die.” “The 
wages of sin is death” —separation from God. Said the 
Lord Jesus, the second Adam: “I am the resurrection 
and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live; andhe wholiveth and believeth 
on Me shall never die; believeth thou this?” A con- 
tinuous act—keep believing; keep receiving. Adam 
and Eve fell; on that fair scene the tempter entered, 
the sworn foe of God and man. Do you ask why this 
was permitted; we cannot answer; God has not revealed 
it. When, said the good Dr. Arnold, I come up to 
a difficulty in the Word of God that I cannot under- 
stand, I leave it, justas in everything else; or exclaim, 
with the apostle: “O the depths of the riches both of 
the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable 
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out;” 
or with the prophet Isaiah: ‘With whom took he coun- 
sel, or who instructed him?” When the light of eternity 
breaks, one adoring burst of praise will be: ‘Just and 
righteous are Thy ways, O King of saints!” We can 
wait, like one of old, assured, though the little plummet 
of our knowledge cannot discover the reason, but this 
we know by faith: “He doeth all things well.” The tie 
has been severed by sin which bound Adam to his God, 
and darkness, thick darkness, has fallen on him; yea, 
he walks in gross darkness; he hides himself from God. 
“Where art thou, Adam?” O fallen one, the crown, the 
royal crown, has fatlen from thy brow; no longer in the 
image of God thou walkest. Where art thou—tTHou— 
THOU—WHERE? Hiding like Adam? O His eyes are 
like a flame of fire; thou canst not hide from Him. 
“Stay with me,” said the dying infidel, Thomas Paine; 
‘St is hell to be left alone.’ The gnawings of the 


336 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


“worm that never dieth” had already begun in that 
soul. A notorious sinner in Detroit was in the midst 
of a life of sin, “when,” he said, “I saw the eye of the 


Lord looking at me. O it was awful!—I should have S 


died if He had not withdrawn Himself.” It brought 
him to his senses, and he cried for mercy and forgive- 
ness. 

Where art thou, backslider? Once you walked 
with God. His light shone around and about you. In 
the morning light your soul was lifted to God, and in the 
evening youcould sing “Happy day, happy day, when 


Jesus washed my sins away.” The Israelites had come ~ 


to Kadesh Barnea. There they are; the march has 
been toilsome, but they have come within sight of the 


promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. 


Twelve spies have been over, and Joshua and Caleb tell 
of walled cities, and of races of giants, but, with confi- 
dence unshaken in God, they cheer the people: “We 
are well able to go up and possess the land.” The ten 
backsliders in heart see only the difficulties, and so 
discourage the people. Backslider of to-day, do you 
know the awful work you are doing; just what these 
ten did—discouraging, blocking the way of sinners! 
Every backslider in a neighborhood brings up a bad 
report of the land. Where art thou? Will you keep 
drifting just as far from happiness as from God? You 
are drifting to your doom. 


“The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driv- 
eth away.’ Wonderful the contrast in God’s Word; 


/ 


the trumpet gives no uncertain sound. The little breeze 


arises, and steadily increases until it is raging; higher, 
and ever higher, it rises till the soul is swept away. 
“Who -is the Lord that I should fear Him?” is the 
language in the-heart of the wicked one, if not on his 
lips. Bishop William Taylor was invited to go into a 
home and see a very wicked man who was thought to 
be dying. When the man saw him, he was greatly dis- 
turbed, saying reproachfully to the man who he sus- 

pected had invited him: “I thought I could have died 





ij 


THE SINNER’S SOUL IN JEOPARDY. —_ 337 


in comfort, but now he has kicked it all into a kite” 
To shut out God and all thought of Him is the con- 
tinued practice of the wicked, and they shall be “pun- 
ished with everlasting destruction from the presence of 
the Lord:” No wonder, when the awful majesty 
of Him before whose presence the earth and heaven 
shall flee away, shall appear, they will call upon the 
rocks and hills to fall upon them. When Dr. Payson 
was dying, in speaking of the overwhelming manifesta- 


‘tion of God’s glory, he said: “But I could see, if an 


enemy of God, how it would be as aconsuming fire.” 


Will you come to Christ? There is no time for de- 
lay; and come now before the brittle thread of life be 
snapped asunder. Come now, before over your -pale 
corpse the words are spoken, “‘dust to dust, thou shalt 
return.” Come now, before the flames shall fold around 
you and your voice shall join in the wailing which 
arises forever from the bottomless pit. Yea, come 
now, sinner. What do you say? Itisa matter of life 
and death. Your immortal soul, your all, is at stake. 
Heaven or hell is your portion; angels or devils must 
be your companions; the songs of the redeemed, or 
the shrieks of the damned, must employ your tongue; 
acrown of glory must soon encircle your head—“the 
crown of life, which shall never fade away,” or the ever- 
lasting shameand contempt; happiness eternal at God’s 
right hand, “where there are pleasures for evermore,” 
or the blackness of despair for ever, ‘where the worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” You must 
walk along the golden streets of the new Jerusalem, or 


you must sink in the fiery lake of hell. 


JOHN RANDOLPH.—FOR BOYS. 


In the days of earliest childhood this eminently 
gifted man was trained by a godly mother. The ten 
commandments, and much of the holy Scriptures, he 
committed to memory under her teachings, and God 
became a living reality to his young soul. The boy, 
John Randolph, walked in thé fear of the Lord, but 





338 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


increasing years brought with them developments of 
pride and self-will. The restraining yoke of God be- 
came irksome, and the fatal choice was made, to walk 
in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes, 
to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Then followed the 


blinding influence, the hatred of God, the proud rebel-_ 


lion, the scoffs at the religion of his mother, the eager 
perusal of infidel writings. 

But amidst it all he confessed, years after, that the 
conviction of the truth of all he had learned in child- 
hood would follow him. Proud of his birth, proud of 
his talents and family position, every now and then the 
hand of God would be laid on him in affliction, and he 
would humble himself and cry to the God of his fathers. 
The affliction removed, these feelings would be but as 
the early dew and morning cloud, which soon vanish 
away. 

The end at last drew near, and John Randolph 
faced the realities of eternity, without God and without 
hope. One day, while sitting up in the bed with a 
countenance haggard and prematurely old, the very 
image of despair, as the doctor entered the room, he 
asked him to find the meaning of the word “ Remorse” 
in the dictionary. Then he said: ‘Write the word 
‘Remorse’ on my card.” It was written: ; 


REMORSE! 


Then he said: ‘I feel nothing but remorse.” 
‘“What shall I do with it?” asked the doctor, referring 
to the card. ‘Carry it with you, and when you see it 
think of me.” 

From a thousand death-beds have come the same 
wail of despair, the same unutterable grief. History 
always repeats itself; the human heart in all ages is the 
same. How many dear boys who read the ‘‘ Vanguard” 
have mothers just like John Randolph’s; mothers who 
are teaching them the way of life, but they love and 
choose the path that leads to death, every year drifting 
further from the God of their mothers. You are turn- 


we. 
on 


OE Se es ee ee 


WARNINGS SLIGHTED—SOULS RUINED. 339 


ing from light to darkness, saying by act, if not by 
word: “I will not have this man Christ Jesus to reign 
over me.’ You are rapidly nearing the place where 
the darkness of despair will settle down over you for 
ever and ever. 


“In that lone land of deep despair, 
No Sabbath’s light shall ever rise, 
No God regard your bitter prayer, 
No Savior call you from the skies.” 


Some who read this page are even now making the 
fatal choice, saying to the Holy Spirit, ‘‘ Not now; 
when I have a convenient time I will call for Thee.” 
Hell is paved with good resolutions. None ever meant 
it to be their abode, but warnings slighted, God’s match- 
less love in giving a Savior to die, and a Savior’s plead- 
ings disregarded, there comes the fearful looking for- 
ward to of unutterable, hopeless despair, the blackness 
of darkness forever!—Sarah A. Cooke, in the ‘‘Van- 


guard.” 
THE UNSEEN LINE. 


There is a time, we know not when, 
A point we know not where, 
That marks the destiny of men 
To glory or despair. 


There is a line, by us unseen, 
That crosses every path; 

The hidden boundary. between 
God’s patience and His wrath. 


To pass that limit is to die; 
To die as if by stealth; 

It does not quench the beaming eye, 
Or pale the glow of health. 


- The conscience may be still at ease, 
The spirit light and gay; 
That which is pleasing still may please, 
And care be thrust away. 


O where is this mysterious bourne 
By which our path is crossed; 


340 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Beyond which God Himself hath sworn 
That he who goes is lost? 


How far may we go on in sin?— 
How long will God forbear?— 
Where does hope end, and where begin 
The confines of despair? 


An answer from the skies is sent: 
“Ye that from God depart, 
While it is called to-day repent, 
And harden not your heart.” 
—Alexander. 


‘“THE HOUR AFTER JUDGMENT.” 


I do not know the author of the following; but it 
seemed so deeply touching that I would like others to 
read it. It was published many years ago by the 
American Tract Society: 


“Silence reigns in heaven! The new song of 
‘Moses and the Lamb’ is filling the hearts of the 
redeemed, and will shortly burst from their lips in an 
endless hallelujah. The solemn silence that prevailed 
while God was assigning to each of His creatures ‘a 
fixed place and portion,’ is yet unbroken. The pause 
that followed ‘ Depart, ye cursed!’ has been an awful 


one: the shock sent an unanticipated pang to the hearts. 


of the doomed. The tones of Jesus’ voice, in words 
of inviting love, were well remembered. They had 
not believed that a time could arrive when His mild 
countenance would change to such awful sternness. 
But the golden gates are turning for the last time. 
Mercy’s gentle hands are barring them. She no longer 
chants the hymn of welcome, or stands in the portal to 
attract the wandering by the radiance of her counten- 
ance and the glory of her vesture. Mercy’s work is 
finished. As the doomed catch the last glimpse of her 
figure, light is extinct to their vision. 


“Whither, O lost ones, will ye wend your way? 
Will ye go back to the green valleys and blue mount- 
ains, and the clear rivers and sweet flowers of earth? 





a 
4 


THE SINNER AFTER THE JUDGMENT. 341 


The rich joys of home and hearthstone, and strains of 
delicious music and.the sweeter notes of happy voices 
—do these remain to atone for the loss of heaven? 
Nay, the earth ‘before His face has fled away.’ The 
glorious stars and moon that shone upon thy cradle 
and lighted thy steps to the home of thy heart’s love— 
the rays that shone gladly in gladness and sadly in 
sadness, shedding hope’s rays upon the graves of thy 
buried treasures—do they beam on thy pathway now? 
They have been shaken from the sky as a fig-tree cast- 
eth her untimely fruit! The blue firmament that smiled 
above thee—its myriad hues of cloud and storm— 
where are they now? ‘ Departed—as a flaming scroll.’ 
Gone, gone, gone! The meaning of that word is infin- 
ite. Its echo will reverberate through the caverns 
where the lost dwell. Suspense was the worst curse 
of life, but the bitterness of death eternal is despair. 
You have but one place of abode whither you may 
resort—down in the deep, dark caverns, where remorse 
will be your only guest; where sleep, that gives tem- 
porary oblivion to those condemned to execution on 
the morrow, may not come to thee. Forget! Aye, 
thou wilt not find a drop of Lethe’s waters in that lone 
desert, wherewith to cool thy burning spirit. Ask the 
victim on the rack why he does not sleep, and when he 
answers thee, thou wilt know why the lost. never sleep. 
Sleep! It is an eternal night, to which no morrow 
cometh. No blush of a rising sun shall cheer the hori- 
zon of perdition. No morning star will kindle its torch 
there. The last sun hath gone down. The smile of 

thy God hath set.” 

InDIANAPOLIS, IND., April, 1896. 
Here I am, in the little prophet’s chamber they _ 
call mine, in the Pentecost home, Indianapolis. Itisa 
sweet resting-place. I often say : with God we abide: 
“ And if our fellowship below, 
In Jesus be so sweet, 
What heights of rapture we shall know, 
When round His throne we meet? 


342 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Here the workers find a hearty welcome, when over- 


wearied with the work. This home is wonderfully run — 


on the apostolic line, where they have all things in 
common. The cruse of oil and the barrel of meal 
never give out. And, best of all, the heavy-laden and 
tempest-tossed find their way to the Lamb of Calvary. 

Every Sabbath morning finds some of the workers 
at the police station. J am always in the prison. One 
morning, they founda man hopelessly dejected ; he 
had been arrested for drunkenness. ‘‘ Who has pain? 
who has grief? who has sorrow without a cause?” 
The poor drunkard. They were moved with compas- 
sion toward him, and asked him to come right to their 
home, where the few days of his sentence were passed. 
They stripped off his poor, tattered clothes, and 
clothed. him from head to foot. They then encircled 
him in the arms of faith and prayer, and in the poor, 
hopeless heart faith and hope sprang up. In a few 
days his feet struck the Rock of Ages, and the new 
song was in his lips, of praises for evermore. He 
works in the office, blessed anda blessing. How he 


loves the Word of God! Itis-constantly in his hands, © 


when he is not otherwise engaged. 

Another of our family, brought up from the very 
slums, was for years a wanderer. He _ had been 
brought up in refinement, and hada good home; but 
in very early life, choosing the down-track, he could 
not rest anywhere, the devil driving him from place to 
place, like the man in the tombs. He was arrested by 
the mighty power of God, and is clothed and in his 
right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus. He told me, 
the other day, how he loved to read the life of Fletch- 
er; and as I look in-his face, I can see a resemblance ; 
the same sweet purity is being developed. 

O how we need to say to ourselves everywhere we 
go, ‘“‘ Able, able to save to the very uttermost!” Sure- 


ly Paul put himself on the pedestal to encourage every - 


sinner on God’s green earth to-look, and live. “This 
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 


THE GOSPEL IS FOR THE “COMMON PEOPLE.” 343 


Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ; of 
whom I am chief.”’—Sarah A. Cooke, in the “Harvester.” 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


AT ONE of the meetings held in Exeter Hall, 
London, a world-wide known evangelist was handed 


this question for him to speak on: ‘‘ Howshall we get 
the masses into our churches?” The characteristic 
answer was: ‘Go and fetchthem.” ‘And I,” said Jesus, 


“if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” The 
preacher is an ambassador betwixt God and man. 
‘“‘ How shall they hear without a preacher?” The man 
who expects to catch fish goes to the waters where the 
fish are. “I have left you an example that ye should 
follow in My footsteps.” We want to study His meth- 
ods and those who followed closely in His steps. He 
preached everywhere; on the Sea of Galilee, on the 
mountains, in the streets of Jerusalem ; on their great 
festivals; that ‘last great day ofthe feast, Jesus stood 
and cried, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and 
drink,” and then the further promise, ‘“‘ He that believ- 
eth on Me, from him shall flow rivers of living water.” 
Thus spake He of the Spirit, not yet given because 
Jesus was not yet glorified. When they received the 
promise of the Father, the full equipment to preach 
His gospel, three thousand souls started in on the 
very first outpouring of the Spirit. Ata quarterly- 
meeting in Chicago, one Saturday afternoon, two 
preachers were present to a congregation of seven, and 
in the evening there might have been thirty people. 
The Sabbath morning came; we gathered again, per- 
haps forty persons, and three preachers were present. 
How I urged that we should go out on the streets, but 
there was no response. Every Sabbath afternoon a 
little band of us were holding a meeting in the main- 
entrance of the general post-office. On my way I 


344 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


passed a vacant lot where from five hundred to a thous- 
and people were gathered, watching a game of ball. 
How my spirit was stirred within me. Most of that 
congregation could have been gathered by any God- 
baptized preacher to tell them the glad tidings of great 
joy. My Lord, methinks, would say to manya 
preacher to-day, if ushered into His presence, ‘‘ Thou 
slothful servant.” 

On Sabbath, the great harvest-day of the week, 
our streets are thronged with people. Our preachers, 
where are they? ‘Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in 
the streets of Askelon, lest the uncircumcised tri- 
umph;” they are recreant to their God-given trust 
from noon till 7:30, all the best of the Sabbath for 
reaching the masses of unchurched, unsaved people, 
and the churches are closed. How truly did our Lord 
say: ‘“‘ The children of this world are wiser in their 
generation than the children of light ;” they do not so 
miss golden opportunities of advancing their worldly 
interests. 

What made the glorious success of Wesley and 
Whitfield? Verily, their intense love to God and the 
souls of their fellow-creatures. Wesley said, “The 
devil does not like street-preaching ; neither do I. 
I love a nice church, a soft seat,an easy time, an 
appreciative congregation; but where is my love to 
God and souls if I do not push through all these things 
to save souls from death?” but they went everywhere, 
preaching the Word, the Lord working with signs fol- 
lowing; and so it will ever be on the apostolic line. 


I saw a picture once that I shall never forget. It 


was John Wesley preaching to 20,000 people. He 
stands on a jutting piece of rock, a large, natural 
amphitheater before him, a sea of upturned faces look- 


ing into his and hanging on his words. Referring to it — 


in his journal, he says: ‘‘ I never expect to see such a 
sight again on earth.” - 


In writing of the closing scene of that wonderful life. 


of devotion, Hester Ann Rogers, who was present said: 





EXPERIENCE OF MAJOR CLIBBORN, 345 


“No tongue can tell the glory that rested on that 
dying countenance.” 


“Heaven began before the soul was loosened from its 
tenement of clay, 

And angels beckoned him away, and Jesus bid him 
come.” 


“Where I am there shall my servants be, that they 
may behold My glory.”—Sarah A. Cooke, in the 
“Christian Witness.” 


MAJOR SYDNEY CLIBBORN, OF THE SALVATION ARMY. 


Standing forth in every age pre-eminent amongst 
men are those on whom “the glory of God resteth,” who 
go forth with the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon 
them. 

Denominations, or sects, are matters of small im- 
portance, but on “er heads have fallen tongues of fire, 
and on their hearts the baptism of the Holy Ghost, 
power, anda love of all, impelling them to seek the wan- 
dering souls of men. Some three years ago, I listened to 
the voice and looked into the face of Catherine Clibborn, 
as she is usually called, ‘the Marechale of France,” 
eldest daughter of General Booth, of the Salvation 
Army. Ihave looked on men who have the stamp of 
divinity, on James Caughey, who as he would “warn 
the people to flee from the wrath to come,” looked as 
though, like one of the prophets of old, he had just 
come from the very presence of the Almighty; but on 
no other woman’s face I had ever looked upon, had I 
seen so much of the apostolic power. Suffering, tender- 
ness, firmness, marked that countenance. She could 
have said with Paul: “I bear in my body the marks of 
the Lord Jesus;” in imprisonments oft, in mobs, 
amongst the very lowest of Paris, where the cry would 
go up: “We will not have this Jesus; we hate Him,” 
going on from conquering and to conquer in the name 
of Jesus, until the statesmen and orators of the city 
would listen with wrapt attention to her words of burn- 
ing-love and warning; and her voice amongst the rough- 





346 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


est crowds would hold all subdued; then pushing her 
way into Switzerland, where bonds and imprisonment 
awaited her. It is about her husband I would write, 
for her life is so bound with that of her parents that 
most people are familiar with it. 


Sydney Clibborn was born in Ireland, of Quaker © 
parents. He says that from earliest childhood he had 
deep religious impressions, would often dream of the 
Judgment-day, and at that early day thoughts of 
heaven and hell would be wonderfully vivid, while the 
temptations to infidelity suggested by the devil would 
fill him with terror at their presence in his mind, till he 
would find refuge in sleep. Eighteen years of his life 
had passed without any one ever definitely urging him 
to surrender himself to God. At boarding-school, he 
says, they studied Quaker history, read the lives of the 
wonderful God-anointed men of early Quakerism, more_ 
than two thousand of whom were in prison at one time 
for disturbing the peace of sinners; but both doctrine 
and experience seemed to have, in its power, become a 
thing of the past; the candlestick remained, but the 
light had almost gone out. During the days of Quaker- 
ism in its fresh glory, one of his ancestors, for some 
hard fighting in Cromwell’s army in Ireland, had re- 
ceived from him an estate with an old castle upon it. 
Finding a Quaker meeting-house upon it, he brought. 
his soldiers one Sunday to burn it down and arrest the 
Quakers; as he approached the door he heard the min-. 
ister. The words smote him to the heart, as “an arrow 
from the bow of the Almighty;” he listened, and then 
quietly stole away. On his return his wife scolded him 
for not having executed his plan. He-told her to go 
herself next time and try. She went herself with the 
soldiers, and was arrested at the door by the power of 
God. Both got saved, and for generations (he says) 
worshiped there. Brought up in the atmosphere of 
Quakerism, with its benevolence of character, the boy 
Sydney wanted to do good; became a Sunday-school 
teacher; studied well the Bible; could havetold the 


MAJOR CLIBBORN’S CONVERSION. 347 


names of all the cities of refuge, but could not say “I 
have run into the city—flee from the avenger, and 
come and live with me.” 


Near where he lived a revival commenced, and his 
dearest friend was converted, and as he saw the light 
of salvation shining in his face he was deeply convicted; 
evening after evening his friend would seek to help 
him into the light, and the pressure of the Holy Ghost 
on his heart became tremendous, and as it increased 
the powers of darkness sought to crush him with fears 
as to what he would have to suffer and give up if he 
became a Christian. Remembering so well his own 
case, he presses seekers with all his power to surrender, 
because the devil is on the other side pressing them to 
resist and put itoff, and we should beat least as earnest 
asthe devil. His agony increased, and he spent several 
hours with his friend in trying to deleve. He says: “I 
did not then see that I could not believe, because I had 
not really surrendered myself, and that true faith comes 
on the abandonment of the soul to God.” “In the 
night meeting the fight in my soul became awful. The 
devil made a last desperate effort, and I rushed out of 
the meeting; but, thank God, friends followed me, and 
my soul burst through the hard crust of pride, and I 
burst intotears. After hours of agonizing struggles, 
all given up to God, I sang softly: ‘Safe in the arms of 
Jesus.’ Never throughout eternity shall I forget the 
double dawn of the next morning, when the earthly and 
heavenly sunlight streamed into my eyes and soul. 
Never had the birds sang so sweetly, or all nature 
looked so lovely and radiant. 

“A year later came the life-call. I had listened to 
a backwoodsman from America, uncultured, but filled 
with the Spirit of God. He said to me, as we parted, 
‘Sydney, will thee not come with us?’ I did not feel 
the call then as coming from God. But that evening I 
was alone in my room, and the Spirit of God came sud- 
denly upon me in such a floodas to deprive me of 
bodily strength, and I sank into an arm-chair, while the 





348 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


waves of the divine glory rolled over and over my soul, 
as billows from the great ocean of heavenly love. ; 
“The glory of Christ’s kingdom seemed to pass be- — 
fore me. No words could possibly express what was 
then revealed to me of the loveableness of Christ, of 
the infinite tenderness of His compassionate love for 
the dying world. I seemed tosee the kingdom of God, 
and to awake to the inexpressible joy of living and 
dying in the service of this sweet King ofkings. The 
very music of heaven seemed wafted through my being 
like the soft murmur of a great ocean, vast as the uni- 
verse. I felt that if I had athousand tonguesthey could 
not tell out what I then saw and felt of the world of 
light. 


“Then the call I had from the human messenger 
was repeated from heaven: ‘Come with us.’ Aftera _ 
time I felt God tell me to go to the table and open my 
Bible. I didso, and it opened on these words: ‘Lay 
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth’ (Matt. 6:19), 
and as I read on to the end of the chapter it all seemed 
burned into my soul as the direct call of God. But, 
alas! I reasoned with flesh and blood.” The devil be- 
gan to put all the difficulties before his mind. For five 
years he had been preparing for business life; now the 
way was fast opening for his entrance into an im- 
mense factory employing 3,000 people; his parents not 
rich, he thought of their disappointment; then the “fear 
of man, which bringetha snare.” He says: “Casting my 
eye upon the ‘things seen,’ I began to doubt and fear 
and hesitate. There I learned, for life, the deep mean- 
ing of the words: ‘Whilst ye have the light, walk in the 
light, lest darkness come upon you.” When God com- 
mands by sending the light into the soul we must 
‘walk,’ step on in the light, act out what the light com- 
mands, and thus the life can enter and permeate our be- 
ing, and give us power for the step or service to which 
God calls. Instead of walking, I stood still and rea- 
soned, and so darkness came upon me._ Four years of 
cloudy Christian experience followed. I worked very 


SYDNEY CLIBBORN JOINS THE “ARMY.” 349 


hard, holding meetings, teaching in Sunday-school and 
reading all the books I could get hold of written by 
those I believed had been baptized with the Holy 
Ghost. In spite of all, my experience remained a wil- 
derness one, and I don’t know that in those four years 
I led one soul to Jesus. O, what a tremendous loss 
through unbelief and disobedience.” 


Once more taking his stand against the opinion of 
friends, choosing God alone for his counselor and 
guide, the baptism so long looked-for came, and souls 
were converted right along. He says: “I did not then 
know how to bring forth converts as public witnesses. 
Business in the day, and then, in full dependence on 
the help of the Holy Spirit, the new truth or new light 
on it would come every night.” A blind man one night, 
unobserved by Mr. Clibborn, was in the meeting, wild 
and rough; the subject, the story of blind Bartimeus. 
The word went as an arrow through his soul. Gloriously 
saved, he has beenthe means of leading multitudes of 
souls to Christ inthe British Islands and Australia. 
Not himself understanding the definite faith and obed- 
ience which preserves the soul in the life of holiness, 
he had imperceptibly gone back spiritually, and longed 
forsome one to lead him into the soul-experience of 
primitive Christianity; that free, fearless, active, holy, 
restful life he saw was the religion the Bible taught. 
“About that time,” he says, “I heard of the Salvation 
Army, and the rumors of its daring warfare and glorious 
results made me feel that the power of the Holy Ghost 
was there; that these people must be filled with the 
holy boldness of the apostles.”” He was now a minister 
ofthe Society of Friends. Time and space would fail 
to tell of all the steps which led Sydney Clibborn into 
the Salvation Army, of the meeting with Catherine 
Booth, of the two lives blending into one, of all the 
triumphs of their faith and boundless zeal in the cause 
of God; five children have blessed the union, trained 
from babyhood for the holy war. When the Mare- 
chale was preparing one day to leave home, her eldest 


350 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


little girlasked: “Ma, would souls be lost if you did 
not gothere?” “I think it very probable they would,” 
was the mother’s reply. ‘Then go, mamma,” was the 
heroic answer of the little Salvationist. 

God bless the Army; keep it with the strength of 
the God of Jacob and the dew of Israel onits branches. 
Amen and amen!—“Earnest Christian.” 


WORK AT SHERIDAN, INDIANA. 
‘ Break forth into singing, ye trees of the wood; 
For Jesus is bringing lost sinners to God.” 


And still they come. For six weeks the work of 
the Lord has moved on gloriously; for two weeks be- 
fore, we had a holiness meeting, led by Brother L. B. 


Kent, of the Western Holiness Association. Only te 


here and there was there one ready to take the life of 
sacrifice involved in buying this “ pearl of great price.” 
Many whose names are on the church record, ‘having 
a name to live,”’ were too worldly to receive these deep 
things of God; but the faithful exposition of truth had 
an influence in arousing the church from her lethargy 
and worldliness, and the work then commenced with 
power among the unsaved. Scarcely a night in the 
last six weeks but seekers have been at the altar. 
Every class of society here has been reached; people 
of every age, from the old and gray-headed to the very 
little ones, of whom our Savior said, ‘‘of such is the 
kingdom of heaven.” The two public schools have 
been freely opened to us. The principal of the larger 
one, On inviting the pastor, said he found the children 
needed to have their moral natures educated as well as 
their minds. We have had many blessed times in the 
schools. O how the Lord has held and kept the chil- 
dren interested and touched, as some life portrayed in 
the blessed Word, or scene in the life of Jesus, has by 
the Holy Spirit been carried home to their hearts; they 
mingle every night with the seekers at the altar. On 
Saturday night, four boys were forward as seekers, and 
surrounding them were other boys just saved, praying 


OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSING. 351 


with, and helping their faith to grasp the promise; and 
one after another their faces lighted, showing that the 
burden had rolled off their hearts. Then their testi- 
monies came in a few broken words of Jesus’ power 
~ to save. 

At the same time one lady kneeled for a long time 
as aseeker. She wept and struggled and prayed. One 
after another labored with her, but no deliverance 
came, and all were discouraged. She rose from the 
altar and took her seat. Could we not find out the 
difficulty? Had not Jesus emphatically said: ‘‘ Who- 
soever cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out”? I 
took my seat by her side, and a little close conversa- 
tion solved the mystery. She had an ungodly husband. 
The Lord showed her that she must confess Him and 
set up her family altar; telling her Jesus not only would 
come into her heart as a Savior, but as her King to 
reign over her, and here at the very onset she was 
refusing to obey His very first commandment. The 
point was yielded, and I doubt not that ere this the 
joys of God’s salvation have flooded her soul. 

The greatest trophy last week of Jesus’ power to 
save was an old settler. His life had been marked by 
much ungodliness and great profanity. Hecame night 
after night to the church. Monday night he came to 
the altar, and before leaving was gloriously saved, 
shouts of glory bursting from his lips; and since then 
the blessed fruits of repentance have shown themselves 
—old grudges, old quarrels, old wrongs all made right, 
and the joy of the Lord is filling his soul. Hallelujah! 

The pastor of this Methodist church, Brother Wil- 
kinson, a man some sixty years of age, is about the 
most whole-souled man I ever worked with. 

When inviting those who have found the Lord to 
join the church, it is always worded ‘this branch of 
the church,” pressing the young converts to join what 
church they prefer, but to be folded somewhere. I 
have heard no words fall from his lips derogatory to 
any other denomination, 


352. WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


And still I hear the Macedonian cry: “Come over 
and help us.” Staying at the home of a Quaker (there 
are many in this neighborhood), he took me yesterday 
to one of their meetings. I would not have known but 
for the “thee” and “thou,” and now and then long 
pauses, that they were Quakers; we were “‘all drinking 
of the same spiritual Rock,” and were one in the Lord. 
He and his wife have been helping in this meeting, 
both “full of good works and: alms-deeds,” the distin- 
guishing mark of Quakerism. One day the brother 
invited a poor man to come to the revival meetings. 
He answered: ‘I cannot; I have no clothes fit to 
come in.” Then said the Quaker to himself; ‘I must 
work with the Lord for his conversion,” and he fur- 
nished the clothes, while the Lord furnished the grace; 
and in a few days the man was blessedly saved. 

He is engaged in a business that requires a great 
deal of hauling. He had some machine which would 
have done the work of four of his men, but the royal 

law of love (pity for the men and their suffering fami- 
lies) prevailed, and the machine lies by unused. My 
work in every place with every people seems to be the 
opening up of God’s Word. What depths I see in it! 
What an all-sufficiency to guide in every step of human 
life, from the first dawn of human reason, through all 
the intricacies of human life, until the ransomed soul, 
perfect and entire, and lacking nothing, shall stand 
with the countless multitudes around the throne of 
God, ascribing ‘Glory and praise unto Him who hath 
loved us and washed us from our sins in His own pre- 
cious blood, for ever and ever.” Amen, and amen!— 
Sarah A. Cooke, inthe “Christian Witness,” March, 1896. 





TO MRS, MARY TUBBS. 

ANCHORAGE Mission, Feb. 13, 1888. 
BELOVED IN THE Lorp: Your kind letter received. 
How I thank my God on .every remembrance of thee, 


for thy kind love and sympathy. 
I don’t know where to begin; have had such an > 











REV. D. W. ANDRE‘VS 
(see Pages 43, 74, 77.) 





REV. W. M. KELSEY. 
(See Pages 62, 78.) 


ple 


> 


Cee) ee 


* 


* 


"AN EARTHLY REST FOR THE WEARY. 353 


unsettled time lately (not in heart); but He who fixeth 
the bounds of our habitation, and who leadeth us by a 
way we knew not, has at last led me to a quiet resting- 
place. Have two pleasant rooms in the home of 
Brother Whittington. When all my furniture was ar- 
ranged, the carpets down and the last tack driven, I 
consecrated it to the Lord, to be wholly His; “ Use it, 
- Lord, for Thy glory,” was the language of my heart. 
In about an hour a cab drove up, and in it was the 
loved Matron of our “ Home for Fallen Women,” Mrs. 
Prindle, who had come to me for a week of quiet and 
rest. My eyes fill with tears of grateful joy when I 
think of my great privilege of receiving her. For 
twelve years she has labored in this glorious work, till 
she is almost prostrated. Many gems has she rescued 
from this life of degradation, to shine as stars in the 
kingdom of our Lord for ever and ever. Last night I 
stayed at her mission, ‘The Anchorage.” As its name 
imports, itis where the weary may findarest. As I 
led this morning’s deyotions, opposite me sat a woman, 
with her little pale boy of some three years in her 
arms; turned out of doors two or three days ago, be- 
cause she could not pay her rent. On my right lay a 
young mother, with her two children, sick with measles, 
she having just recovered from diphtheria. This case 
is one of deep interest. Beautiful and highly educated, 
she had left her country, Germany, believing that Chi- 
cago would furnish her a livelihood for herself and two 
children, as she could give lessons in the French and 
German languages. She was almost despairing when 
the Lord guided her feet to this mission. There is 
-much of skepticism in her heart—questionings of the 
“why” and “wherefore.” As I left her this morning, 
and alone was laying her case before the Lord, asking 
for His convicting Spirit to rest upon her, I heard my 
name; then her arms were around me, and her head 
leaning on my s’ oulder: “And will you,” she said, 
“pray for me?” « how quickly the Lord had answered 
prayer! 


354 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


Yesterday (Sabbath) I was at the Jewish Mission. 
There sat around the table some seven or eight Jews, 
while their leader, a Jew, converted about a year ago, 


like another Paul, was proving to them out of the Scrip- _ 


tures that ‘‘this is the very Christ.” I have promised 
his dear wife that I will visit, to-morrow, some Jewish 
families. And so, day by day, the work opens every- 
where, The harvest is very great, and the ice 2 are 
so few! 

I have been moving, and have mislaid your letter, 
so mayhap shall not answer it fully. Ihave been some- 
thing like Noah’s dove; in every place where I have 


looked for a house, something has been in the way... 


My Lord does not let me nestle long anywhere; but I 
love His blessed holy. will, and would not have it any 
other way. O to dwell continually ‘‘ under the shadow 
of His wing;” then I may claim by faith the promises 
that follow. Read that 91st Psalm, beloved, and may 


it prove to you as full of blessings as for years it has - 


tome. Hallelujah! Our Jesus is the dwelling-place 
of His people i in all ages—* the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever.” 

I am so rejoiced that you have access at the throne 
forme. Tell your husband I would rather have an in- 
terest in-his prayers and yours than to have every acre 
of land he owns on earth. O this blessed fellowship 


in our living Head! I don’t believe it will ever be — 


broken; the full consummation will be in glory. 
Love to Clara and allthe children. Yours, as ever, 
in the precious love of our Immanuel, 
SarAH A. COOKE. 
TO THE SAME. 
Lena, Ill., Dec. 16, 1888. 
BELOVED SISTER IN THE Lorp: It isso long since I 
have written to you. My time has been so much occu- 
pied that you must forgive me the apparent neglect. I 
often think of Carvosso’s oft-repeated words, ‘* Hurry 
up, for you will find me all the time busy ;” and so we 
would have it : 


>: 
& 


~ 


Pa 


naa 


WITH THE SALVATION ARMY. _ 355 


“A work of holy love to do 
For the Lord on whom we wait.” 


I have had sucha blessed time in Chicago, since the 
end of the summer’s work; but now the Lord has 
called me out again. He so often stirs up my little 
nest, ‘‘as the eagle hovering over her young stirreth up 
the nest ;” showing me that it is not for me to settle 
down in any home. Even so, my Lord, I am Thine to 
do with me as Thou wilt ; only let me glorify Thee in 
body and in spirit, which are Thine! 


A week agolIspenta day with the Salvation 
Army at Englewood, about ten miles from Chicago. 
What intense earnestness marks their work; likea 
net-work, they are spreading over ours and other lands. 
They neither turn aside to the right nor to the left ; no 
controversy with other Christians, no “hair-splitting,” 
no wasting time on creeds ; but, all intent on saving 
souls, their glorious path pursue. While churches hold 
out schemes of pleasure : picnics, festivals, grand houses, 
splendid choirs to attract and hold the people, the Army 
consecrate their lives, and take from every class, from 
every soldier, the means to carry on the glorious work. 
O for a like devotion in our own church, and then we 
should see the same blessed fruits of our labors. Have 
you been out much this summer in the Lord’s work? 
Hammond, the place I mentioned to you, where I was 
so hopeful of being able to hold a meeting, still stands 
over until next summer. Could not find either the 
tent or the laborers just suitable. Whenever we do 

have a meeting, I want to havea little tent together. 
Thought some of inviting Bro. Dake and one of his 
bands. We shall see each other face to face. O what 
blessed times we have had together ; but nothing com- 
pared with what it will be when “ we shall see Him as 
He is.” Does your soul, dear sister, “cry out for the 
living God?” ‘ We shall be satisfied when we awake 

_ in His likeness.” Yours affectionately, S. A. Cooke. 


356 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


TO THE SAME. 
Cuicaco, Ill., April 12, 1889. 

My Dear Frienp: Your kind note reached me 
this morning. I have been intending to write to you 
for along time, but every day has brought its many en- 
gagements ; so much todo, so many calls to make in this 
great city. And you are still walking in the fear of 
the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. O it 
gave me such a thrill of joy as I read of your con- 
tinued prayers forme. Oh,I need them so much. O 


what a oneness between the souls of God’s dear chil- ~ 


dren and fellowship in Jesus, our living Head! 


“ And if our fellowship below : - 
In Jesus be so sweet, 
What heights of rapture shall we know, 
When round His throne we meet?” 


I hope it will not be very long before we shall 
meet each other again. I have no plan for the sum- 
mer’s work. Hammond has been much on my heart, 
but at present there is no clear opening. For more 
than two years, I have been holding to the Lord for an 


open door into the Bridewell, our city prison ; and the 


Lord has graciously heard and answered. Am invited 


to speak there next Sabbath. O what a glorious priv-- 


ilege! “I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.” 


About 700 prisoners have been shut up there, with 


none to break unto them the bread of life; none to 
point them to the ‘‘ Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
sin of the world.” O for the precious anointing! 
The sound of our Master’s feet is behind us. 

Before the Bridewell was moved from the city, I 
visited it once or twice a week, but the present gover- 
nor is a very high, aristocratic man, and was not will- 
ing to have any one there, unless it was an ordained 
clergyman, and you know that not many of them feel 
much sympathy for these poor outcasts. So until now 
the door was closed ; but the Lord ‘opens the prison- 
doors, and breaks the bars of brass,” and the hearts of 


WORKING IN CHICAGO. 357 


all men are in His hands. ‘“ Hallelujah, the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth!” Let us take hold of His 
strength, and we shall prevail with Him. O for more 
_ of the spirit of Jacob of old: “I will not let Thee go, 
except Thou bless me.” Hold on, dear, with every 
effort you can, for the salvation of your children. My 
own dear sister once told me that she had travailed for 
the souls of her children from their birth. Six years 
ago she passed into glory. News came, a few days 
ago, from her husband, that two of the children had 
been saved. O how he does rejoice in the Lord. Does 
that mother know? It seems as though it would 
- heighten the bliss of heaven. 


“ And the angels echo round the throne: 
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own.” 


Yesterday I was visiting atthe Old Ladies’ Home. 
About eighty find an asylum there. O how I did feel 
the presence of the Lord while there ; and then, in the 
evening, at the Salvation Army meeting. 

I don’t think fora year] have written a page of 
“The Handmaiden of the Lord.” If it is the Lord’s 
will, and for His glory, 1 know He will open up the way 
that I may have leisure to doit. It does not matter 
what we do, so that it is just what He would have us to 
do. God bless you and dear brother Tubbs, and every 
one of the dear children. Yours, as ever, in the prec- 
ious love of Jesus, SARAH A. COOKE. 


TO THE SAME. 
HumBIRD, Wis., July 3, 1890. 

Dear SIsTteER Tusss: You will think me long in 
answering your last kind letter. Ever since I have 
been so fully occupied journeying from place to place, 
there has been no opportunity of carrying out the plan 
of working with you. Came into Wisconsin about 
three weeks ago, after much prayer and looking up for 
guidance. How sure I am that the Lord led me here; 
not one thing He has spoken has failed. Glory, glory 
to our God! Rooted and grounded in love, 


358 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


“My steadfast soul, from falling free, 
Shall hence no longer rove.” 


Rooted and grounded in love, dear sister, how I 
long to know more of the height and depth and 
length and breadth of that unmeasurable love; 
pray for me, especially for this. When out in 
the Lord’s work, and constantly with others, we miss 
the quiet and calm of our own home-life. We need so 
much more grace, or the heart gets hurried and unset- 
tled from the sweet calm, restful peace. I feel that 
I lost some on the last camp-ground, from want of 
watchfulness. Here I am surrounded by others and 


not careful enough to push through every obstacle and ~ 


get alone with God. Christmas Evans, the holy, God- 
baptized Welsh preacher, would say : “ Without much 
secret, communion with the Lord, the soul becomes as 
dry as as the mountains of Gilboa, on which neither 
rain nor dew fell for seven years.” I know it, my Lord; 
I know it by the experience of many years; and yet 
how we will, at times, let circumstances control us! I 
think I see work for all summer. Then, as I did not 


go to my brother’s, at Armstrong, last year, they will — 


be looking for me; and from there I will try and come 
and see you, if only fora few days. The Lord has 
seemed to knit our hearts together in love. Do not 
forget to bear me up often in the arms of faith and 
love before God. Iso need it. The tempter is ever 
vigilant, and so impedes our onward march. How 
often I realize: ‘‘ We wrestle not against principalities, 
and powers, but against spiritual wickedness in high 
places.” O for the overcoming faith, born of believing 
prayer! + ag 

We began a camp-meeting here about a week ago, 
and the interest is increasing. The camp-meeting 
proper has closed, and yesterday we moved the large 
tent down into the village, and the Lord is working. 
“Blessed be His holy name!” O tosee souls saved— 
the grandest sight on earth. How I love His work, 
A few more years of service, then— 





“2 
“£, 


AMONG THE WELSH IN WISCONSIN. 359 


“ Like a bounding hart, fly home, 
Through all eternity to praise. 
His nature and His name is love.” 


Good bye. The Lord bless and keep you very 
near Himself. Yours, in His most precious love, 
SARAH A. COOKE. 


ANOTHER PERSONAL LETTER. 
RanpDotpH, Wis., April 27, 1891. 

BELOVED FRIEND AND SISTER IN JESUS: Your let- 
ters always cheer me. It is so precious to know we 
have a share in the prayers of God’s children. How 
blessed it would be to once more mingle our prayers 
together. Some five weeks ago I came here, and the 
Lord has greatly blessed the work. I had such a 
shrinking from plunging out among strangers, and the 
weather was socold; but His will was made so plain, 
and a blessing came on my soul when I yielded. 

We found this a large village, principally of Welsh 


_ people. Cambria is five miles from here. 


They had not had a revival since before the civil 
war. The interest began at once, and all the commu- 
nity seemed moved. The largest church in the place 
was given to us to hold services in, andthe preacher 
(Calvinistic Welsh Methodist), a good man, got greatly 
revived, while his eldest daughter was gloriously con- 
verted. O how easy it is to work where the blessed 
Spirit is poured out onthe people; ‘not by might, nor 
by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” We have 
closed the meeting, the two brethren having to leave 
for afew days, and Ihad matters to attend to in Chi- 
cago. But the people are anxious for us to return, and, 
if the Lord should so direct, we may be right back 


_here. Then we have an invitation for a tent-meeting, 


commencing June I. So, dear, lsee no chance of ac- 
cepting your kind invitation, much as I should love to 
spend a week ortwo in your sweet little home. 

I want you to hold on in prayer to God about hav- 
ing a camp-meeting in Armstrong. I feel that if it is of 


360 | - WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


the Lord, the way will be opened. O how I would love - 


to have “holiness to the Lord,” in all its fullness, 
preached to that community! 

Be sure and pray for our dear Brother Kent, now 
that he has no other engagement but to be fully in the 
Lord’s work—so capable, and with so much knowledge. 


Pray that, as on the first disciples, so on him may rest. 


the baptism of power; without this, all talent, all 
knowledge, fails to move men’s hearts. 
Where we have been laboring, most of the people 


professing religion, ‘having the form of godliness, but’ 


denying the power thereof,” scarcely any dare say that 
they were saved. 

The first two weeks we spent with a lady much 
afflicted with lameness. I little thought, as I would 
labor and pray with her, how near she was to the closing 
scene of life. She knew something of the pardoning 
love of God, but had no real joy in believing. One 
morning before leaving her, she told me how the Lord 


had blessed her that morning. Last Monday a friend ~ 


went in and found her very happy in the Lord; at seven 
o’clock two children went to her home with milk, and 
found her sitting in her chair; her glasses on, thimble 
on her finger, and her sewing in herlap. Apparently 


the spirit had passed away in a moment; we believe to — 


be forever with the Lord. 

A young wife, with one beautiful child, a kind hus- 
band, a good home; and yet her testimony was: “I am 
so restless! I do not have one happy hour; nothing 
pleases, nothing satisfies me.” As she awoke, under 
the power of the Spirit’s teachings, to see herself, her 
poverty, her misery, and her need, she pressed to the 
altar through everything, to the feet of Jesus. Andas her 
trembling hand of faith touched Him, the void in her 
soul was filled with a joy unspeakable and full of glory 
—for two or three days a perfect ecstacy of joy. Now 
she says: ‘‘My home and all around are new; I am so 
satisfied with everything!” 

O this great salvation! adapted to the wants of 





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REPENTANCE—CONFESSION. 361 


every human being on this green earth; the living 
water that gushed from Calvary slaking the thirst of 
every human soul. 

O preach it, beloved! Do not turn aside to other 
things. Do not lop off the branches while the bitter 
rootremains. Preach the gospel of repentance first. 
Plead as you go, for the Holy Ghost, as a convicter of 
sin, to go before you. Work with Him. Drive in the 
ploughshare of conviction-—_the Baptist’s “Repent ye, 
for the kingdom of heaven is athand.” Then present 
the glorious remedy: ‘“‘The Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world.” The disease has but one 
remedy. 

What atime of sickness and death! Surely our 
God is preaching through all this land. O tell your 
dear girls to get into the ark. The soul once lost 
is lost forever. Delay is the ruin of countless multi- 
tudes, and every year adds to the number. Yours in 
Jesus, SARAH A. COOKE. 


TO MRS. ANNE GRANT. 


Cuicaco, Ill., Feb. 13, 1893. 
My BELOVED FRIEND AND SISTER IN JESUS: I 
know your thoughts will be of us, as ours are of you. I 
I am so glad the Lord sent you among us. 


I will begin from the very time I left you in the 
depot. I felt that the confession made to you there 
was all for the Lord; ‘‘confess your faults, one to an- 
other, and pray one for another.” I found such a won- 
derful difference when I got home at night; such a mild, 
friendly spirit, and the same all day yesterday. The Lord 
(1 don’t know how, exactly) had brought about a won- 
derful change, hinging, I think, on ‘that confession. 
Shall we ever get, in our experience, to the place where 
the exhortation, ‘Confess your faults one to another” 
is not needed? I think not. O what need, in every 
place, to be on the watch-tower: “What I say unto ~ 


362 _ WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


you, I say unto all, watch. Watch and pray that ye 


enter not into temptation.” 

Nothing special yesterday. How much hinges on 
the preacher! If they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit, I feel that the whole church would be Cues 
~ ened. 


The Lord helped me some in exhortation, on the 


line of warning; and one dear girl, a backslider, wished 


us to pray for her. She said “she wanted to get back -~ 


to the Lord.” : 
February 14.—A letter from my sister-in-law this 


morning, saying she had seen some of the official mem- 


bers, and they all wished me to come out, but could 
not decide about Bro. Buss until they had had their 
official meeting on Thursday; so I have answered that 
I will wait until I hear the result, for I feel all-insuffi- 
cient to commence alone. I would love to have you 
with me; but our Lord’s ways are always best. He 
sent forth His own first disciples in twos. 


I went yesterday to see that woman who is par- 
alyzed. I foundher all alone. One sideis very much 
affected, and I could not understand near all she said. 
She seemed much pleased to see me. 

I called on Mr. Arnold. His wife thought he was 
some better; but he was sleeping, so I did not go in. 


Went, to-day, to the holiness meeting. . The doc- 
tor led it—with the gold all on, notwithstanding all 
your good counsel. He read the second chapter of 
Titus. How blessed its teachings—‘The Word of God, 
which liveth and abideth for ever.” It was a blessed 
meeting. How God does indorse the teaching of 
holiness. Mrs. B 
thinking that when the world is not put off from the 
outside, be the knowledge and gifts ever so great, there 
is always a felt lack of sweet simplicity and power 
united. 

I hope, dear, that you found all friends well. I can 
fancy the loving greetings that awaited you. Any 





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WARFARE—VICTORY—REST. 363 


light on your way yet? Keep looking up, with all com- 
mitted, and ready to do His will. 
These words came to me with such sweetness this 
morning: 
“My country is in every clime; 
And places now remote I call, 
Secure of finding God in all.” 


Good night. God bless and shelter you continu- 
ally under His own wing. Love to Brother Grant and 
the dearchildren. In Jesus, as ever, thine, 

SaraH A. COOKE. 





TO THE SAME. 
Cuicaco, IIll., December 13, 1893. 

My BELovepD Frienp: Yours duly received. And 
still “the Lord giveth us the victory through our Lord 
Jesus Christ.” 

I have been so impressed in reading those wonder- 
ful messages to the seven churches. However diverse 
in circumstances, or in experience, they allend about 
alike: ‘To him that overcometh,” the promise, the 
warning, isabout the same. It is only at the very last 
we shall take up the triumphant language of the 
apostle: “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the 
faith.” To-day the sound of battle, and then the song 
of victory. They allcome that way, ‘‘who have washed 
their robes and made them white in the blood of Cal- 
vary’s Lamb.” 

The Lord 1s graciously giving me, this winter, a 
time of rest and the comfort of a home. I have not 
had one so comfortable since my husband died. O how 
I enjoy it; but try to keep so loosened from it that 
when I hear “the sound of a going in the tops of the 

mulberry trees,” I shall be all ready—whether to join 
you, dear one, in lowa, or anywhere else on God's 
green earth. 

I fear from what you say, and Brother Grant’s 
fears, that you are quite out of health. You speak of 
the prospect of its being a close winter. Write to me 


364 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


as freely as you would to a mother or a sister. Are 


you situated sothat you have a comfortable, warm 


room; have youa good stove and plenty of fuel? Have | 


you sufficient and comfortable clothing? Have you 
plenty of provisions in store for the winter? Write me, 
directly you receive this, fully, freely. 

No, we cannot spare you; the church needs you, 
the world needs you, your dear husband and family 
need you; and the final glory willbe forever. A few 
or many years longer on earth, there will still remain 
eternal glory; length of days forever and forever, where 
there is fullness of joy for evermore. 

Dear Sister Dudman has been failing for some 
time. Last Thursday she invited two friends who be- 
lieve in faith-healing (Mr.and Mrs. Norton) to meet at 
her home. O how we pleaded on this line. She seemed 
passive; no active faith for herself, but the Lord gra- 
ciously answered, in a measure, our prayers, and she 
was out again on Sabbath-morning. Glory to our 
God! - 

You remember Sister Rawson, the wife of the 


brother who is employed in Bro. Arnold’s office. She — 


has been very near the crossing; so near the land of 
light and glory that some of its blessed inhabitants 
were within sight. She saw the mother and father of 
her husband, and he waved his hand to her not to 
cross over now; she was needed most on earth; and 
though the body was almost rigid in death, conscious- 
ness returned, and her precious life was spared. 


I cannot tell you how busy I am; it seems as if never 


more so, and the Lord gives the daily strength. I 
stayed from the noon-meeting to-day, to write to thee. 
Then I have an afternoon of visiting at the hospital; 


then visit Sister Chesbro, who is failing; supper at ~ 


Brother George’s; then finish up at the Salvation Army 
or Kirkland Mission. 
Will you, dear sister, bear me up in your arms of 
faith andlove? InJesus, as ever, thine, 
SARAH A. COOKE. 





WHOLESOME TRAINING IN YOUTH. 365 


P. S—The noon-day prayer-meetings are becom- 
ing much more spiritual. How the Lord helped me, 
_the other day, in telling what our noon-meetings used 
to be, and how we wanted to get back into the old 
paths. Praise the Lord! His own children responded. 


TO MRS. GRANT. 


Cuicaco, Ill, January 8, 1894. 

BELOVED SISTER GRANT: So glad to hear from 
you. O praise the I.ord! All the way his loving hand 
is guiding. I have thought very much about one part 
of your letter; that about the children, and, though 
never a mother, have gone through life with my eyes 
open to many things. My own dear parents were wise 
and judicious in our training. O how I thank God for 
such an early discipline and training. I used to think 
they were over-strict and particular, in not allowing us 
to run here and there, and have young company; now 
I see the wisdom of it. We learned to find our happi- 
ness in our home, with each other, and in the company 
of the good and great, through their writings—for we 
loved reading and were trained to it—we were greatly 
helped. 

But the excitement of continued company destroys 
the love of solid reading, and you know how utterly: 
light and frothy many young people are. ‘It is gig- 
gling and make giggle.” The Lord will help you, dear, 
and strengthen you in holding the reins. O read all 
God says in His Word about the training of children; 
how different from the modern ideas, and yet infinite 
wisdom dictated every word—‘the Word of God, 
which liveth and abideth forever.” 

The model woman, drawn by the pen of inspira- 
tion for all time, you will find in the last chapter of 
Proverbs: ‘Her children rise up and call her blessed.” 
~O may your daughters, trained under your care, be 
such women—“ blessed and a blessing to others.” 

I have no idea that God is going to take you home 
for many years yet. Read the gist Psalm; and do not 


366 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. . 


you, beloved sister, ‘meet the conditions? and, “fe so, 
claim the promise: “With long life will I satisfy him 
(or her, for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor | 
female), and show him My salvation.” ‘t We have not, 
because we ask not” (these promised blessings). “I 
will be inquired of to do these things, saith the Holy 
One of Israel.” 

‘Tam ever,” said a Scotch writer, “traveling be-- 
tween my own emptiness and God’s fullness.” 

O beloved, in Him are hid all the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge. Keep drawing, and then, in all 
providential arrangements, have a sweet submission to 
His will. 

“Yet, glorified by grace alone, 

We'll cast our crowns before the throne; 
And fill the echoing courts above 
With praises of redeeming love.” 

No wonder the beloved disciple finished his revela- 
tions with “Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus;” and 
while we stay here, may our lives continually show 
forth Thy praises. How I want the continued experi- 
ence of the holy John Fletcher. For two weeks before 
his translation (not death), his first and last words 
were: 

“T nothing have, I nothing am; 
My treasure’s in the dying Lamb, 
Now and forever more.’ 

Dinner is just ready; then we will go ‘out some 
twelve miles for to-morrow’s (Sabbath) work. Much 
love in Jesus, thine, Sarau A. Cooke. 

TO THE SAME. 
CONNERSVILLE, Ind., October g, 1894. 

My BELOvED FRIEND: It does not look much as” 
though my feet would, this fall, stand in your house in — 
Iowa, as I once expected. Heart and hands are full of 
work, and fresh doors are opening. 

It seems so long since I heard from you; are you © 
as well as usual? and does. your soul mount up on 
wings, as an eagle, to God, your exceeding joy? How 





HOLINESS TO BE OBTAINED AND FOLLOWED. — 367 


I would love to have an hour or two with you! and how 
much we would have to tell and hear of how the Lord 
has been leading! Am much drawn out in prayer for 
you this morning, that the Lord will give you great 
Courage and firmness in your family; that He would . 
bring to your memory the example of Abraham: “I 
know my servant Abraham, that he will command his 
servants and his children after him.” How lamentably 
many of God’s children have failed here! Eli, a warn- 
ing to all generations of not having been true in the 
training of his children; only parental tenderness stood 
in the way of faithfulness to God. Without strong 
crying and tears, who is able to develop this unshrink- 
ing faithfulness? Would not every parent fail? O 
beloved, with every one of us it is a fight of faith. 


We have had large congregations here, and deep 
interest. Meeting at the corner of Court House Square 
on Saturday afternoon. O what hungry souls! One 
man begged us to go out in the country three miles. 
A hall has been offered us free, except the heating and 
lighting. Last night a man was gloriously saved. The 
churches are filled with members, most of them in the 
world and of it; and, saddest of all, “having a name 
to live, while they are dead;” and O how hard to reach, 
because they are church members. 

Last week I went to Richmond, a little way from 
here, to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers. I had so 
often thought that I would so love to be there once. 
Our band was full enough to spare me, and I heard the 
well-known voice say: “Speak unto the children of 
Israel, that they go forward.” In little more than an 
hour I was on my way. Met there with some blessedly 
saved, having the mark on their foreheads; zz every age, 
in every clime, in every sect, holiness 1s the same. One 
denomination loses it, because they are worldly and 
formal; then the Lord raises up another, on whose ban- 
ner is “‘ Holiness unto the Lord.” But my heart felt 
saddened; so many among them are departing from 
the old landmarks, and the glory is departing, too. 


368 _ WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


The sister who preached on Sabbath afternoon was 
‘‘all conformed to the world;” gifted, but with no holy 
unction. The cross is the same everywhere; and how 
old nature tries to wriggle down and get rid of it. 


Found Richmond a city of some 20,000 people, 


but they have not a single mission, nor one corps of — 


the Salvation Army—not one place where at night the 
poor and ignorant can hear ‘“‘the glad tidings of great 
joy.” My heart was much stirred in one place, where 
two sisters took me. The policeman told us, “It was 
as dark as heathen lands, and they needed missionaries 
just as much.” We are looking up to the Lord, and we 


believe He will open our way to push right out and 


preach there ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.” 
Hold us up, dear sister, in your arms of faith and 
prayer. Tell me all about yourself, and some time, not 
very distant, I hope to labor with you, and then enjoy 
heaven together with you. In the precious love of 
Jesus, thine, SARAH A. COOKE. 


LETTER TO MISS COLBORN. 


INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Nov. 27, 1894. 
My Dear Atice: Praise the Lord! Where shall 
I His praise begin? 
The dear girls had got my, room all nicely fixed 
when I came back! O it does seem so homelike here, 
surrounded by the portraits of those who have loved 


and walked with God, and my books and furniture; 


and as I write one of the girls is by my side, writing, 
and another sewing. 


Yesterday was such a busy day. I do see here 
such openings for work. I went yesterday to what is 
called the ‘Boys’ Club.” It is composed principally 
of city waifs, newsboys, bootblacks, etc. There are 
about seventy of them in the afternoon-school. The 
lady who has established it is very much interested in 
them, and how they seem to love her! She told me 
they were cultivating and bringing them to a higher 








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PERSONAL LETTERS. 369 


standard, teaching them to be good men; but they did 
not think it best to talk too much to them about relig- 
ion. I told her how much I loved this kind of work, 
and asked for the privilege of coming in to tell them a 
Bible-story. It was readily granted. I told them of 
Daniel in the lion’s den, and they were much interested. ~ 
The Lord has given me favor in her eyes, so that my 
way is right open. You and dear Sister D. pray that 
God’s blessing may be on my labors there. 

Then I must tell you about my visit to the prison 
~ on Sabbath morning. There are, generally, from eighty 
to one hundred prisoners. One lady, Mrs. Scott, has 
_ had charge of this morning service for the last eight 
years. We have felt wonderfully drawn to each other. 
I feel there such a sense of the divine presence, such 
liberty in talking to them of Him who came “to bind 
up the broken-hearted, and to preach deliverance to 
the captive, and the opening of the prison-doors to 
those who are bound.” 

And now, my dear, how is it with yourself? Is 
the way opening? Are the indications clear that you 
are in the Lord’s order? Just walk with God, as He 
opens your way, diligently taking every onward step. 
Bishop Taylor says: ‘For forty years I have watched 
the leadings of God’s- Spirit, and have just followed.” 
May my dear Alice do the same, and, like Christian in 
the ‘“ Pilgrim’s Progress,” with his fingers in his ears, 
cry, ‘Eternal life! Eternal life! Eternal life!” Quit 
all self-pity, and rejoice that you are counted worthy 
to follow in the footsteps of your lowly Savior, who 
_ went about doing good. 

I had a letter from Brother Tinckham the other 
day. He inquired so kindly after you. Asks if you 
are still carrying about in your heart what does not 
belong to you—“ unbelief.” ‘Tell her to turn it out, 
once and forever.” The Lord so fill you with love to 
_ Himself that all this endless thought and reasoning 
may be ended. We want to be like little children, in 
love and in simple trust; 


370 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


“ Content to fill a little place, 
So He be glorified.” 


O that our hearts may be enlarged every way ie 
the advancement of His glorious kingdom! In Jesus, 
thine, SarAH A. COOKE. 



































TO THE SAME. ees 


My Dear YounG FrienpD: Your letter both sur- 
prised and pained me. My dear father would often _ 
say: ‘The best experience in the world is dear- 
bought experience.” May this lesson, in your case, 
never have to be repeated. NEVER GO INTO DEBT. The 4 
Word of God is emphatic: ‘‘Owe no man anything.” 
When young, I read Todd’s “ Students’ Manual.” 
One chapter, on debt, made animpressionI shallnever _ 
forget. He said: ‘ Debt is like a millstone around _ 
one’s neck.” O how he showed the misery it brought! 
You are out in the Lord’s work. Has He not prom- 
_ised to supply all your needs? Not your wants; not 
to gratify the wish to be dressed as you. might choose. _ 
The very plainness and simplicity of the Quakers and ~ 
of the early Methodists greatly impressed people with 
their separation from the world and all its vain fash- 
ions. Mr. Finney said of the Quakers: “Had they 
followed Christ in other things asin their simplicity 
and plainness, they would have taken the world for 
Christ.” Othe untold burdens that are pressing to- _ 
day on thousands, through gratifying the desire for — 
things not really needed. Remonstrating once witha _ 
dear girl on the worldliness of her appearance, she 
said : ‘I would not have a bit of influence if I dressed 
as you think I ought to.” ‘No, Mary,” I said, “ you 
mistake the character of your influence. It does not 
draw them to God, only to you.” When Johnthe Bap- 
tist’s herald-voice drew all classes to him, his clothing __ 
was a camel’s-hair garment, and a leathern girdle about _ 
his loins. It was the God-power with him thatdrew 
the people. So with all who really draw souls to — 
Jesus. If we obey not the guidance of the Holy ay 


LETTERS TO MRS. GRANT. 371 


Spirit, we quench and lose His blessed influence, and 
these acts of disobedience to the teachings of the 
Spirit and the will of God, revealed through His Word, 
bring such leanness to the soul! You speak of this 
burden of debt affecting your body and worrying you 
so much. Of course it would. In any trouble or 
affliction straight from the hand of God, not from our 
own disobedience, we can always by faith look up for 
the all-sufficient grace, and He will make us victorious; 
yea, even “joyful in tribulation.” Get down before 
Him, my dear, and by His grace tell Him you will 
never more on that line err again. Yours, in the prec- 
ious love of Jesus, SARAH A. COOKE. 


TO MRS. ANNE GRANT. 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 18, 1895. 

My BetovepD FRIEND: My thoughts are often 
with you. God bless you more and more in the blessed 
work of saving souls! I am anxious to know if your 
co-laborer is better, or has some one else come to sup- 
ply his place? I have acted to the very best of my 
judgment, holding the matter before the Lord, that if 
itwas His will that I should come, to make it quite 
plain, and there should be no holding back. Heseems 
to have given mea field of labor here, just suited to 
my strength and ability. Yesterday, Sabbath, previous 
to starting to the prison, pleading for His help and 
presence, the words came with much sweetness: “ As 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of Man be lifted up.” O how graciously 
near He was, and helpful, both in speaking on it in the 
~ jail, and in the evening at the Salvation Army. Then 
I seem so needed here as a kind of mother and pro- 
vider for the needs of this Pentecost family. It isa kind 
of general home for the workers as they come and go. 

O how sweetly, the other day, these words kept 
coming to me: 


“O that my Lord would make me meet 
To wash His dear disciples’ feet!” 




























372 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


He is helping me where I so often felt my bats a 
thought your letter wonderfully encouraging ; so we 
published a part of it in-this month’s issue of the “Pen- 
tecost Herald,” which I send to you. Write again 
soon. Iam so glad your dear children aré being gath- 
ered into the fold. Do they get plenty of good 
religious reading-matter? Are they fond of reading? — : 
I think it is such a wonderful blessing. If young peo-— 
ple are not fond of reading, as a rule they are restless, — 
and always wanting the company of others; while the 
love of books introduces to the best society the het a q 
thoughts of the best minds. : 

Urge much, onall your young converts, the alts 
importance of the daily reading of the Bible, and — 
secret prayer. They will, sooner or later, backslide 
without these two great means of grace. Yours most 
lovingly, SARAH A, COOKE.~ 


TO MISS COLBORN, 


Austin, Ill., April 30, 1895. 

My Dear Atice: Yesterday I went over to youl 
sister’s, at Oak Park. I felt so concerned about you. ~ 
You did look so sick, and we had such a little time to” 
talk together; so I followed you to Sister Gates’, but 
found you had left there.. Mr. and Mrs. Watson re- 
- ceived me very kindly, and I took supper with them — ‘ 
and tried to drop a few words for Him “whose I am _ 
and whom I serve.” Be true to God everywhere. 1. By 
know you will. You may err in judgment, but hold on, ~ 
dear Alice, through much tribulation, and you shalem i 
enter into the kingdom. 0 the triumphs of the hour 


ful servant, enter thou tatty the joy of thy Lord;” what - 
blessed Leta “T have fought a good fight, I haves 4 







a crown of. life.” 2 
And now, dear, about your hand; when I had those a 
very painful boils last spring, I tried remedies, pouty 


LETTERS TO MISS COLBURN. 373 


the pain; and that did not hinder my faith in the Lord 
one bit. I knew that for some wise purpose the Lord 
had permitted it, and in His own time the healing 
wouldcome. In all things there is the working of the 
divine and the human, and doing our own part takes 
none of the glory from our God, to whom be honor and 
glory forever and ever. I never can work myself, or 
force myself up to faith, for the removal of any afflic- 
tion, but submissively wait on the Lord; then, when 
His own time comes for deliverance, He gives me 
some promise on which faith anchors. 

One time, when passing through deep waters, 
where I could see no way out, this was my promise: 
“Thou wilt compass me about with songs of deliver- 
ance;” not more wonderful the opening of the Red Sea 
to the children of Israel, when “they passed through 
on dry land,” than was that deliverance to me. O 
praise the Lord! He wants us to be flexible; the con- 
stant language of our hearts ‘Not my will, O Lord, 
but Thine be done.” 

To-morrow, if the Lord will, I leave again for In- 
dianapolis. The Lord has so opened my way there. 

Keep a good courage, and in the midst of all “sing 
above the tempest—praise the Lord!” Yours, most 
lovingly, SARAH A. CooKE. 





TO THE SAME. 
Vermont, Ill., Aug. 26, 1g95. 

My Dear Atrice: Our meeting closed here last 
night. It wasatime of great refreshing to many of 
God’s people, but very unsuccessful in reaching the un- 
saved. I knew you would feel disappointed in not 
coming to the St. Charles meeting; but under the cir- 
cumstances we could not take care of you. Did the 
Lord give you the victory and enable you to say, “Not 
my will, O Lord, but Thine be done?” What a joyful 
time we will have together when you have learned the 
blessed, hallowed lesson of drawing your happiness 

right from the Lord. é 


me Se WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


“When all created streams are dried, He 
_ His fullnessis the same; ~ <i aae 
May I with this be satisfied, a 

And glory in His name.” | 57) 






























Then nothing fetters the soul, and it mounts, as on © 
the wings of eagles, upward. Take no anxious, careful — 
thought for the morrow,. I have a sweet little tract 
(‘He Careth for You;” W. E. Boardman, 260 Connecti- — 
cut street, Buffalo, N. Y.), by one who, walked and | 
talked with God. I have sent for a dozen of them, | 
and will send you one; and I want you to read it over 
and over—will you? until the precious thoughts areall 
your own. Youcan feed on them yourself, and hand = — 
them out to others; and be sure and read it to dear 
Sister Gates. 

Your last letter was interesting to me, telling me- 
of those in whom I feel a deep interest. My workis 
all the time in new fields, and my time is so fully occu-_ 
pied that I cannot correspond as I would like to,and ~ 
follow cases as I would like to, if it were otherwise; 
but I love tohear about them. O tobe so filled with 
the Spirit that we may continually be helpfulto others; 
living not unto ourselves, but unto Him who hathloved — 
and given Himself for us. “A heart,‘at leisure from it- 
self, to soothe and sympathize.” This 7s my is 
necd. x 

O what a busy week I have just passed. Had not 
been here to this Vermont camp-meeting for five or six _ 
years, and the people were cordial and kind. I had 
one, two, or three meetings every day,—four class- _ 
meetings—very tender and blessed of God; two — 
mothers’ meetings, love-feasts, and a children’s meeting — 
nearly every day. O surely my Lord did renew my 
strength. O-how sure the promise: “As thy day, so | 
shall thy strength be.” This morning the friends” 
moved. Every one wanted to pack and move off from 
the ground early. I had to get down and plead fora _ 
fullness of the Spirit that would bring the calmness _ 
and the patience we all so much needed, and O howit 


=H 
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ep 
Le 


LETTER TO MY BROTHER. 375 


came! O to have, not only now and then, but conrTINu- 
ALLY, the experience of Paul: “It is not I that live, but 
Christ that liveth in me;” Jesus, in His calm, meek 
gentleness and pure love enthroned within, it must be 
moment by moment, as we draw the air that supports 
our natural life. 


“The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
- sin,” and “the life I now live, I live by the faith of the 
Son of God, who loved meand gave Himself for me.” 
Write to me at Brother George’s; he will forward to me 
at anytime. Much love to yourself and dear Sister 
Gates. Yours in Jesus, SARAH A. CooKE. 


TO MY BROTHER JAMES. 


SHERIDAN, Ind., January 19, 1806. 


My Dear BrotuHER JAMES: It seems so long since 

I have either heard from or written to you, that having 

a leisure hour this morning I feel like winging some of 

my thoughts to you. I felt a little weary after a full © 

day’s work yesterday, when a little before nine o’clock 

there came an invitation for me to go out to the public 

school. WhenI reached there, they gathered the whole 

school, four departments, together for me to talk 

tothem. “‘ My present help in every time of need” was 

there ;-and O how He helped me to speak, and them 

to hear. I should think there were 300 present. I 
told them the story of Jonah, and in the application 

brought home the need of obedience, and of true 
repentance—‘“ bread cast upon the waters,” to be seen 

after many days. .Have been here (a small town of 
some twelve or fourteen hundred people) for six weeks; 

first in the Wesleyan church, and now in the Metho- 

dist Episcopal. Yesterday afternoon I went, for the sec- 

ond time, to where they had an almost deserted church; 

but the people were gathering, and in this valley of 

dry bones the Spirit is beginning to breathe. This 


376 - WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 


morning I opened the Bible on these words ; “ Follow 
Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” O whata 
_ thrill of joy that brought to my soul. Show justhow, 
my Savior, for without Thee I can do nothing. ae 

How is it, dear brother, with your health? Do 
not superannuate a bit faster than you can possibly ~ 
help. Iam persuaded that many do. I know just how 
the tempter will be at you at this point ; he knows — 
that you havea depth of experience that no young 
Christian can have, and alsoa depth of knowledge of 
the wiles and temptations of the evil one. Ifthe elder 
women were exhorted to teach the younger, in Paul’s 
day, equally necessary is it now for the older men to 
take higher ground. Peter, the aged, writes to his 
elder brethren: ‘“‘Feed the flock, redeemed. by His own 
precious blood, taking the oversight.” Then, to our own 
hearts, while actively engaged in the Lord’s work, there 
comes such a blessing, such a depth of communion and — 
fellowship with Him, as we realize in all of it our own 
insufficiency, and leanon Him for help. I was telling 
a large congregation, yesterday, how after conversion 
the Lord gave me such a glimpse of what the Christian - 
life must be, that I cried out, “ How canI ever go 
through?” and the answer came for all time: “My~ 
grace shall be sufficient for you, for My strength is” 
made perfect in weakness.” 

Push out, dear brother; I have an idea you may 
be settling on your lees, and. unless it is absolutely — 
necessary (and then He will give you all the grace _ 
needed, ) you will lose the fresh, deep joy out of your 
soul. I long, till life’s latest hour, to be in His blessed 
service ; may we both be eager in any way toadvance 
His glorious cause. Soulsallaround usare pushingon 
their way to destruction; and if, with melting tenderness, 
caught by lying, like the beloved disciple, on the bosom — 
of our Lord, we can warn and entreat sinners to flee” 
from the wrath to come, some will heed our warnings, — 
some will be led to Jesus—‘ our joy here, our crown 
of rejoicing hereafter.” O how often those wordsof 





SELF-DENIAL IN CHRISTIAN WORK. 377 


Paul cheer and stimulate me: “ Therefore, my beloved 
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding 
in the work of the Lord; for as muchas ye know that 
your labor ts not in vain in the Lord.” 

O those exceeding great and precious promises 
for us—that ‘‘in old age His people shall be fat and 
flourishing; yea they shall bear fruit in old age.” But 
it may be there. will be a continued warfare between 
the flesh and the Spirit. When living in Chicago, gen- 
erally leaving home and going down in the city about 
eleven o’clock, I would often not go home for my sup- 
per, going into some restaurant, because I knew the 
almost irresistible longing, and often yielded to, there 
would be to stay at home in the evening, and not go to 
any service; and yet the next morning I would always 
feel better, and have so much more joy in my soul 
than if I had listened to nature’s call, and had taken it 
easy. May the Lord bless thee continually. In His 
most precious love, thine, » Saran A. Cooke. 

TO A YOUNG PREACHER, 
My Dear Friend :-— 


Mine eyes were kept waking last night and you were 
much in my thoughts with the strong impression that I 
ought in my faithfulness to write to you and at the break- 
fast table the feeling was deepened by one of our number 
asking if there was not a passage in the Bible reading: 
“Cursed is he that doeth the work of God slothfully.” On 
looking it up, we found that it was “deceitfully” while in the 
margin “negligently” and “cursed is he that keepeth his 
sword from blood.” Oh, how the fear came on me of lack 
of faithfulness of neglecting this duty of writing to you 
longer. And are you, my dear brother, called to the work 
of the ministry? The most glorious, the most awfully re- 
sponsible work on earth; its two great parts to lead men to 
flee from the wrath to come, to turn them from darkness 
to light, from the kingdom of darkness to that of light. 
The other, the feeding the flock, building them up in their 


378 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. es =: 


most holy faith. Every sermon ought to hive one of cheese 
ends in view. Paul in writing to his son Timothy—epistles _ 
full of tenderest, deepest council—says: “Study to show _ 
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to- 
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Oh, 
how much study, how much prayer it will need to bring out - 
of the rich treasures of God’s word, food for the people that 
shall build them up in their most holy faith. It does not 
lie on thé surface. What costs you nothing will be to the 
people as nothing, taking no hold on their hearts and con- _ 
sciences. ~O how I have felt it while listening to your ser- 
mons, such mere surface talks. I have often read Proverbs — 
2: 2-7—-What promises—“not yours or any other man’s 
' without the means, most diligent, most earnest seeking” — 
wondered if they have cost you an hour’s study. My heart — 
has often burned within me when listening to such preach- * 
ing, the people working all through the week supporting a 
man with no other business but to look after the work of : 
God, and on the Sabbath to minister to them in spiritual 
things and his words without power, life or blessing in 
them, and yet the Bible so full of richest, deepest treasures ; : 
the Holy Spirit of God so willing when sought to take the — ; 
things of Christ and reveal them. Ask any farmer as you 
look over his crops of golden grain if they came there with- 
out much of thought, much of hard labor, and he will an- — 
swer, “No.” Ask any preacher who has been successful in 
winning souls if his closet has not been witness to much of < 
wrestling prayer. Ask any successful man of business _ x 
“how came that great success?” the will tell you how every — 
energy of mind has been bent on it, how every interest has — 
been watched with closest vigilance—the one great Seale 
of success. < 
With never failing wonder and sdianenian I always — 
read Paul’s charge to the elders at Ephesus Acts xx: 
17-36, when about to leave them after being three years 
with them—tears and temptations from enemies, Keeping =: 







SELF-DENIAL IN CHRISTIAN WORK. 379 


back nothing that was profitable, teaching them publicly 
-and from house to house, the one way of salvation: Re- 
pentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
looking forward to bonds and imprisonments, but with a 
love so engrossing to that Savior who had given him his 
high glorious commission to testify his gospel, that none 
of these things moved him, nor was his life dear unto him. 
O, what years of faithful service, of hard labors, the crown- 
ing proof of all: Engrossing love for souls. For-three 
years he could call them to witness. He ceased not to warn 
every one night and day with tears, laboring with his hands 
to supply his own and the needs of others, looking forward 
with the tenderest solicitude and warning to the dangers 
before them as he left them. No wonder, thou glorious 
apostle, all nations wherever the gospel goes call thee 
blessed. Our sermons are ourselves, our own souls, full of 
intense love and desire to others. It will come out. Heart 
-will touch heart. I feel so sure that in a few years, without 
a great change, you will drop out of the ministry or into a 
formal church unblessed; unless, dear brother, you arouse 
yourself. ‘Ease, self-indulgence, love of honor, has been 
in allages the bane of the priesthood, in the times of Ezekiel 
and Jeremiah and in the time of our Savior. Some of his 
most pointed and terrible rebukes fell on them. Human 
nature is ever the same in all ages, but there is power in 
the rich grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to lift you above it 
all and make you one of the glorious company who shall 
shine as stars in the right hand of our Redeemer forever 
and ever. 
With kindest wishes, I am, yours in His most precious 
love, SARAH A. COOKE. 
22 Aberdeen St., Chicago, IIl., Jan. 19, 1g00. 


380 . WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 
TO Ss. B. SHAW. 


Dear Brother S. B. Shaw: 


At your request, I write a few remembrances of our 


departed brother, Dwight L. Moody. That “a Great man 


has fallen in Israel,” anyone who knew and followed the 
marvelous work of this man of God, cannot doubt. His 


eye was so single that his whole body was filled with light: 


hence to him was fulfilled the glorious promise of his Lord. 


. And whatsoever we ask, we receice of him, because we 


keep his commandments and do those things that are pleas- 
ing in his sight. Eternity alone can reveal the glorious 
results of the life of this wonderful man of God. 

You asked me to give you personal reminiscences and 
I will do so. I came to Chicago in the year 1868 a perfect 


stranger. My husband and his brother had been ‘here some- 
time before and from the window of my first home on Wa- 


bash Avenue I would watch the multitudes coming and go- 


ing and often wondered where I would find my work todo ~ 
for God. The first place I found was the Y. M. C. A. ~ 
Their rooms then were located on Madison St., near — 





LaSalle St. Mr. Moody was an active worker there—‘A ~ 
diamond in the rough’”—most truly, with the one desire to © 


do good burning through everything, his very earnestness 


moving people, but withal such a lack in his teachings of 


the divine unction and power. He was always kind and 
friendly and anxious to enlist in any way the help of Chris- 
tians. He always encouraged me to take part in his meet- 
ings, 


It was at the St. Charles camp-meeting in 1871 that a 


burden came on me for Mr. Moody, that the Lord would 


give him the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, a 


lial TM tik 2 
ee edt oe 


travail of soul deeper than I ‘have ever had for any other be-_ 


ing on God’s earth. No opportunity after that was lost in 
urging upon him his great need and encouraging him to, — 
seek with the certainty that it was for him. In Mr. ~ 


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SELF-DENIAL IN CHRISTIAN WORK. 381 


Moody’s meetings Mrs. Hawxhurst and I were almost al- 
ways together. After the sudden death of her husband, 
her home broken up and almost heart broken Mrs. Hawx- 
hurst had come to ‘Chicago to live with her only daughter. 
But soon Jesus came into her heart with a joy unspeakable 
and full of glory, and she would say as her feet trod the 
streets of Chicago on messages of love and mercy, it seemed 
as though they did not touch the sidewalk. At first as we 
talked with Mr. Moody, there seemed no antagonism—but 
little conviction of his need of any further work; but he 
asked us to meet with him in Farwell Hall every Friday 
afternoon which we did for a number of weeks. As we 
met there from time to time, he would get increasingly in 
earnest, and the last Friday preceding our great Chicago 
fire in 1871, he was intensely so. This was during the 
month of October. 

At each meeting each of us prayed aloud in turn, but 
at this meeting Mr. Moody’s agony was so great that he 
rolled on the floor and in the midst of many tears and 
groans cried to God to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and 
fire. The Sabbath came. In the evening of the memor- 
able night when one-third of Chicago was laid in ashes and 
multitudes were left homeless and destitute, Mr. Moody 
preached in Farwell Hall. The alarm of fire had been 
sounded two or three times. The Spirit prompted me to 
speak and warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come. 
Some that were in that meeting that night perished within 
twenty-four hours in the flames. How often I have looked 
back and regretted that lost opportunity. The meeting dis- 
persed. The fire alarm sounded again and again. My 
husband said: “There must be a very large fire on the 
West Side,” and went out to see it. We were living in Far- 
well Block at that time. It had been a day filled with work. 
In a little time I was roused from deep slumber by my hus- 
band’s voice saying, “You must get up directly; the fire 
has crossed the river and will soon be here.” Hurriedly 


382 WAYSIDE SKETCHES. 






























entry of Farwell Hall, we hastened out. None who 
that scene can ever forget the roaring of the flames, 
crashings of the buildings. Often these words would co: e | 
to me: “We shall triumph when the world is in a blaze,” 
while such a consciousness of the presence of God as a 
stronghold in the day of trouble brought the deepest peace. 
Standing by the side of a lady in deep mourning, I ask 
if her home was burned. “No,” she said; “Is yours 
Pointing to the flames that had already caught the buildin 
telling her where we lived, I added: “I have a house 1 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens; no fire could ey _ 
consume that home.” How the tears rolled down her. 
cheeks. I do not know that I have seen her since that da fist 
It seemed as though the Lord had such a perfect right to 
do as he would with his own. He gave and he had taker : 
away; blessed be the name of the Lord! Bn 
Every dray, every express wagon was engaged. H 
band, with the help of a colored man, carried two trunks 
the vacant lot at the foot of Madison Street, by Lake Mic 
gan. The next Sabbath morning came and as I prep 
for service, the thought came, for the first time in my 
“T have no home ;” then followed the words of Jesus: “ 
foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but 1 
Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” Oh, 
tender, melting feelings! It seemed as though I wa 
step nearer my Savior than I had ever been before. Rea 
ing the church early, there came a fuller blessing; su 1 
manifestation of (God, my ‘(God!—the gifts gone; the ¢ 
mine—my -everlasting portion. Down on the seca 
tween those seats, I poured out the deep thanks ro} 
soul in adoring gratitude and love. 
After the great fire, Mr. Moody went to. New ¥. 
to solicit funds for the rebuilding of his institutions bu 
said his heart was not in it. The great cry of his soul 
for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. While on Wall str 


SELF-DENIAL IN CHRISTIAN WORK. 383 


it fell upon ‘him just as on the first disciples and with the 
same glorious results. From this time he rapidly became 
famous in his work for God, and two years after in connec- 
tion with Mr. Sankey he went to England. The circum- 
stances of the beginning of his work in England are known 
to the public. Among other things, he was asked his motive 
in going to preach if it was to the miserable poor. His char- 
acteristic answer was, “Yes; and to the miserable rich too.” 
God honored his work wonderfully. From royalty down 
to the very poorest, the people flocked to hear him. At 
one of the large gatherings in Exeter Hall, London, the 
subject handed to Mr. Moody to speak on was, “How shall 
we reach the masses?” “Go and fetch them in,” was the 
response. Everything with him was practical_and earnest. 
He hated sham—mere words, without heart or purpose. 
After three years of work in the United Kingdom, he turned’ 
his steps back to America. The announcement was made 
that on such a morning Mr. Moody would speak in Farwell 
and all the religious elite of the city were there to greet 
him. The platform was filled with preachers and leaders in 
the Christian world, but none had a deeper interest than 
the writer who looked on that scene with trembling solici- 
tude, fearing lest this wonderful popularity and success 
might have puffed him up in any way. ‘Mr. Moody spoke 
with more unction than of yore but at the same time in 
childlike simplicity. When the meeting closed, we noted 
amid all the congratulations, such a look of humility, as 
_ though he would gladly have slipped away from it all. His 
childlike spirit was his shield and his defense. Truly, he 
was “clothed in humility as with a garment.” 
Yours, as ever, in the precious love of Jesus, 


SARAH A. COOKE. 


Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
saints and also the same divine inspiration tells us: “The 
righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance’—a heri- 
tage for the church in every age. How his people and him- | 




























384 ; WAYSIDE SKETCHES. ~ 


self are-one—“ I in you, and you in Me.” We feel 1 
giving a record of the closing scenes of Mr. Moody’s li 
At one of our noonday meetings in Chicago towards th 
close a stranger arose and said Mr. Moody was dead. Tih 
tidings fell with inexpressible grief on hearts there. Fo: 
many hours to me it was as a heavy pall of sorrow, then 
God’s own. word it was lifted, as He said: “How un 
searchable are his judgments, and His ways past findin 
out.” We shall know it all when the light of eternity 
breaks upon us. Suddenly in the midst of a great revivalin 
Kansas City Mr. Moody broke down. He returned home — 
seemingly in the very midst of his usefulness. “His su 
went down while it was yet noon.” ‘Till within a few hours 
of the closing scene, doctors, himself and friends were mos 
hopeful about his recovery. He said: “Life is very sweet 
to me and there is no position of power or wealth that could 
tempt me from the throne that God has given me.” His 
eldest son says: “As I watched by him the last morning 
of his life, suddenly I heard him speaking in slow and meas- _ 
ured words,” he was saying: “Firth recedes, heaven open 
before it”—soon adding. “If this is death, it is sweet, there 
is no valley here; God is calling me, and I must go.” He 
_ then appointed each one of his children to carry on some 
part of the work he was leaving. Then as though looking 
beyond the vale, he exclaimed: “This is my triumph; th 
is my coronation dav! I have been looking forward to 
for years.” Then his face lit up and he said in a voice o} 
ioyful rapture: “Dwight and Irene; I see the children’ 
faces,” referring to the two grandchildren God had tak 
from his home in the past year. For forty-six years Mr. 
Moody had enjoved God’s favor and love, for twenty-eight 
the pentecostal blessing of a closer fellowship and more un- _ 
interrurted communion, saving himself after that baptism — 
of the Holv ‘Ghost received in New York he never lost com- 
munion with God. On Dec. the 26th they laid away | 
body amid the scenes of his early life and the buildi: 
raised by him to extend the kingdom of the Redeemer. T 
vears of earthly service ended, we know that he had entered 
into the joy of the Lord. 
He sees the Lamb in heaven’s own light, 
Whom here we dimly see, ae 
'Gazes transported of the sight, a 
Through all eternity. = “ae 





TESTIMONIALS. 


The Christian Witness. This book is a series of personal experience civering 
a period of more than sixty years. Those who delight in Christian biography 
will feast on this book with spiritual profit. The authoress has woven into her 
narrative choice quotations gathered during a life time from the writings of 
God’s saints in every age. 


Rey. J. Buss. Am reading your book through the second time. Tae Lord 
is making it a blessing to my soul. When I read your quotations from Bram- 
well, Ann Cutler, Caughey and others my head turns to a fountain of tears. 
Precious souJs they are wher2 sin never polutes and where the devil never disturks 
their peace. 


Colorado Free Methodi:t. This book of three hundred eighty-two pages 
by Sarah A. Cooke is an autobiograph. It blazes with revival power, glows 
with spiritual instruction and breathes with the spirit of free and earnest de- 
votion. It is a real faith tonic as the author rélates the dealings of God with 
herself and others. 


ihe Christian Harvester. We have been happily acquainted with this preci us 
*“Tfandmaiden of the Lord’’ for many years. Born in Olney, England, the home 
oi the poet Cowper and John Newton, dauntless as unassuming in the Lord’s wo-k. 
Mrs. Cooke was saved amongst the Baptists; she was sanctified at the fanou: Sc. 
Charles Free Methodist camp meeting. One of the two women who h Iped Mr. 
Moody into that richer experience which preceded his great career. 


The Free Methodist. The autobiography of Sister Sarah A. Cooke is a grand 
additicr: to religious literature. Indefatigable faithfulness and industry distin- 
guished her life work and its pages teem with comfort and blessing. In vain 
will the reader search for literary vanity or egotism in its pag:s. It is doubt- 
ful indeed if the doctrine of perfect holiness can be more plainly or effectually 
explained, or more completely verified, than in this autobiography. 


The Christian Outlook. Her earnest Christian labors have brought her into 
close contact with such men as Mr. Moody, Charles Spurgeon and Bishop Taylor. 
Of all these Mrs. Cooke has something interesting to relate. ‘“‘To show forth 
His praise’? the one object of the author in writing this: boos. She has 
gleaned for its pages from every source. Kings and emperors give witness 
of God’s all sufficient grace or life’s utter hopelessn2ss without itz- This as 
brought out in every page of this book. 


S. A. Kean. I believe this book will prove a blessing to us and to thousands 
of others. ; ’ 


Arkansas Methodist . It has the tone of a deep religious experience and relates 
many things touching and instructive. 


The Balitmore Methodist. Devout, laborious, successful Mrs. Cooke has given 
the world a book which will prove an inspiration to the courage and faith of 
many. 

S. B. Shaw. Mrs. Cooke is well known, not only in Chicago, where she 
has labored for many years in churches, missions, Salvation Armies, jails and 
hospitals, but also in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michivan; and wherever she is 
known the very mention of her name calls to mind her intens> devotion and 
zeal for God. We have never known any one to spend so much time in secret 
prayer or talk so much about the Word of Ged, or who has made great-r 
sacrifices of time and money for the salvation of souls. In faithfulness in dealing 
with others we have never known her equal. 














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